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Commercial Litigation UK
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April 18, 2024
EU Antitrust Chief Says Merger Tool Not A 'Power Grab'
The European Commission's top competition enforcer said Thursday the agency has taken a measured approach to using its newly asserted power to review mergers that fall short of local thresholds, as the European trading bloc's high court mulls a challenge of that authority from DNA sequencing company Illumina.
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April 18, 2024
Pawn Shop Owes VAT On Auction Sales, EU Court Says
A Portuguese pawn shop must pay value-added taxes of €308,000 ($327,000) from sales commissions of auctioned items because the auction is not part of the exempt loan, the Court of Justice of the European Union said Thursday.
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April 18, 2024
Ericsson Can't Push Lenovo's FRAND Claim Out Of UK
Swedish telecom Ericsson has failed to force Lenovo's claim over patent licensing terms out of the U.K., as a London judge on Thursday concluded that the English courts are "clearly the most appropriate" forum for the Chinese multinational's case.
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April 18, 2024
Law Firm Can't Block Investors From Group Negligence Claim
Williams & Co. Solicitors cannot block 134 property investors from bringing a joint negligence claim over failed property development projects because U.K. laws say "in plain English" that multiple parties can join a claim, a London appeals court ruled Thursday.
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April 18, 2024
Police Inspector Can Relaunch Her Equal Pay Fight
A female police inspector has won the chance to relaunch her equal pay battle against London's police force, with an appeal tribunal ruling Thursday that she had an arguable case that the force's part-time pay scheme discriminated against women.
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April 18, 2024
Dexcom Asks EU Court To Toss Abbott Med Tech Patent
Medical device maker Dexcom Inc. has asked Europe's patent court to revoke Abbott Diabetes Care Inc.'s patent for glucose monitor screens, firing back at its rival in a sprawling international battle over the technology.
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April 18, 2024
Insurers Face Appeal Over Refusal To Cover Bribery Loss
A holding company took its fight for an insurance payout to the Court of Appeal on Thursday, urging justices to force its insurers to cover its claim for losses it sustained when its acquisition of a construction contractor went south due to bribery and corruption allegations.
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April 18, 2024
Womble Bond Told Post Office To Withhold Docs From Court
Womble Bond Dickinson advised the Post Office to "suppress" key documents from the court "for as long as possible" in a case brought by wrongly prosecuted sub-postmasters, according to correspondence disclosed at the inquiry into the scandal Thursday.
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April 18, 2024
Negligence Claims Against Law Firm May Go To Trial
A London court has ordered 35 investors to clarify their claims against a law firm that they say failed to properly advise them on the risks of sinking an estimated £2.7 million ($3.4 million) into a "worthless" property development.
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April 18, 2024
Monex Unit And Drug Co. Settle £19M Contract Dispute
An Indian drugmaker has settled its £19.4 million ($24.1 million) claim against a unit of foreign exchange giant Monex, alleging it unfairly canceled currency exchange contracts with "no basis."
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April 18, 2024
Head Of Chambers Accused Of Bullying By Expelled Barrister
A barrister told an employment tribunal on Thursday that the head of an English criminal chambers put him through "absolute hell" by bullying him and trying to end his career before expelling him from the chambers.
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April 18, 2024
Slater And Gordon Wins Bid To Rebut Ex-Analyst's Appeal
Slater and Gordon won permission on Thursday to challenge a former costs analyst's appeal that he was harassed for having mental illnesses after arguing that a lower tribunal's ruling suggests the accused individuals didn't know enough about his condition to have done so.
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April 17, 2024
Ex-JPMorgan Analyst Liked 'Winding Up' Autonomy CEO, Jury Told
A former JPMorgan stock analyst testifying Wednesday in the criminal fraud trial of former Autonomy CEO Michael Lynch said that he "took pleasure in winding up Lynch" and once even used a Hitler analogy to describe his performance, but said his critical coverage was never personal.
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April 17, 2024
Firefighter, Doctor Unions Lose Appeal Over Pensions Swap
Trade unions representing firefighters and doctors lost an appeal Wednesday to help their members recover losses resulting from a change to pension plan rules after justices concluded that HM Treasury had the right to pass the cost on to scheme members.
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April 17, 2024
Raid On Broker In Cum-Ex Fraud Case Was Lawful, Court Says
A raid on the London office of commodity brokerage MCML Ltd. following a request from Danish prosecutors investigating an alleged £56 million ($70 million) tax fraud was lawful, a London court ruled Wednesday.
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April 17, 2024
Gov't, Employers Face Pressure After Right To Strike Ruling
The U.K. will face fresh pressure to improve protections for striking workers after the country's highest court declared Wednesday that part of a foundational trade union law is incompatible with employees' human rights.
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April 17, 2024
Escobar TM Too Shocking For General Public, EU Court Rules
A European court refused Wednesday to let cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar's family trademark his name because of its "highly offensive and shocking" associations with drug trafficking and narcoterrorism.
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April 17, 2024
Merchants Bring Modified Bid For Swipe Fee Class Actions
A group of merchants urged Britain's competition tribunal on Wednesday to approve proposed class actions accusing Visa and Mastercard of unfairly imposing interchange fees on retailers for several years, arguing they had sufficiently addressed concerns that led to their initial proposals being rejected.
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April 17, 2024
Gazprom Unit Fights Ruling Blocking Russian UniCredit Claim
A Gazprom joint venture told the U.K. Supreme Court on Wednesday that appeal judges in England did not have jurisdiction to grant an anti-suit injunction blocking its €450 million ($480 million) claim in Russia against UniCredit Bank.
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April 17, 2024
UK Wins Appeal Of Border Officer's Compressed Hours Case
An appellate judge has told an employment tribunal to take another look at a pay discrimination claim by a Border Force officer against the security and immigration body, casting doubt on the earlier court decision to allow him to bring a second claim over the same pay policy.
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April 17, 2024
Coinbase Loses EU Appeal To Bloc Rival TM
Coinbase lost part of its bid Wednesday to stop an Estonian company bearing the same name from registering a trademark, with a European court saying the cryptocurrency platform cannot block the trademark of the Baltic state business for news services, publishing or education.
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April 17, 2024
6,000 Tesco Workers Demand Documents In Equal Pay Case
Thousands of Tesco staff whose equal pay claims have been stayed pending the outcome of a leading case argued in an appeal Wednesday that they should get all correspondence between the supermarket and the claimants in the lead case.
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April 17, 2024
Insurers Deny Liability In €403M Nord Stream Pipeline Claim
Two insurers have argued that the damage caused to two Baltic Sea gas pipelines hit by explosions is not covered under their policies with the lines' operator, and they are therefore not liable for over €403 million ($429 million) claimed to cover repairs.
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April 17, 2024
Chinese Vape Maker Accuses UK Co. Of Bumming Designs
A Chinese vape maker has accused a rival of selling products that look identical to its SKE Crystal Bar, infringing its intellectual property by using the "Crystal" name and misrepresenting their vapes to British consumers.
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April 17, 2024
Intel Urges Court To Revoke Semiconductor's Chip Patent
Computer processor giant Intel denied infringing the intellectual property of R2, telling a judge Wednesday that the chip patent that the semiconductor maker is trying to enforce is invalid because it represents developments already known in the industry.
Expert Analysis
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Ruling In FCA Case Offers Tips On Flexible Work Requests
In Wilson v. Financial Conduct Authority, the Employment Tribunal recently found that the regulator's rejection of a remote work request was justified, highlighting for employers factors that affect flexible work request outcomes, while emphasizing that individual inquiries should be considered on the specific facts, say Frances Rollin, Ella Tunnell and Kerry Garcia at Stevens & Bolton.
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Pension Scheme Ruling Elucidates Conversion Issues
In Newell Trustees v. Newell Rubbermaid UK Services, the High Court recently upheld a pension plan's conversion of final salary benefits to money purchase benefits, a welcome conclusion that considered several notable issues, such as how to construe pension deeds and when contracts made outside scheme rules can determine benefits, say Ian Gordon and Jamie Barnett at Gowling.
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New Fraud Prevention Offense May Not Make Much Difference
By targeting only large organizations, the Economic Crime Act's new failure to prevent fraud offense is striking in that, despite its breadth, it will affect so few companies, and is therefore unlikely to help ordinary victims, says Andrew Smith at Corker Binning.
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Aldi Design Infringement Case Highlights Assessment Issues
The forthcoming English Court of Appeal decision in Marks and Spencer v. Aldi, regarding the alleged infringement of design rights, could provide practitioners with new guidance, particularly in relation to the relevant date for assessment of infringement and the weight that should be attributed to certain design elements in making this assessment, say Rory Graham and Georgia Davis at RPC.
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Generative AI Raises IP, Data Protection And Contracts Issues
As the EU's recent agreement on the Artificial Intelligence Act has fueled businesses' interest in adopting generative AI tools, it is crucial to understand how these tools utilize material to generate output and what questions to ask in relation to intellectual property, data privacy and contracts, say lawyers at Deloitte Legal.
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Decoding UK Case Law On Anti-Suit Injunctions
The English High Court's forthcoming decision on an anti-suit injunction filed in Augusta Energy v. Top Oil last month will provide useful guidance on application grounds for practitioners, but, pending that ruling, other recent decisions offer key considerations when making or resisting claims when there is an exclusive jurisdiction clause in the contract, says Abigail Healey at Quillon Law.
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Litigation Funding Implications Amid Post-PACCAR Disputes
An English tribunal's recent decision in Neill v. Sony, allowing an appeal on the enforceability of a litigation funding agreement, highlights how the legislative developments on funding limits following the U.K. Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Paccar v. Competition Appeal Tribunal may affect practitioners, say Andrew Leitch and Anoma Rekhi at BCLP.
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EU Product Liability Reforms Represent A Major Shakeup
The recent EU Parliament and Council provisional agreement on a new product liability regime in Europe revises the existing strict liability rules for the first time in 40 years by easing the burden of proof to demonstrate that a product is defective, a hurdle that many had previously failed to overcome, say Anushi Amin and Edward Turtle at Cooley.
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Zimbabwe Ruling Bolsters UK's Draw As Arbitration Enforcer
An English court's recent decision in Border Timbers v. Zimbabwe, finding that state immunity was irrelevant to registering an arbitration award, emphasizes the U.K.'s reputation as a creditor-friendly destination for award enforcement, say Jon Felce and Tulsi Bhatia at Cooke Young.
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Building Safety Ruling Offers Clarity On Remediation Orders
The First-tier Tribunal's recent decision in Triathlon Homes v. Stratford Village Development, holding that it was just and equitable to award a remediation contribution order, will undoubtedly encourage parties to consider this recovery route for building defects more seriously, say lawyers at Simmons and Simmons.
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How AI Inventorship Is Evolving In The UK, EU And US
While the U.K. Supreme Court's recent decision in Thaler v. Comptroller-General is the latest in a series of decisions by U.K., U.S. and EU authorities that artificial intelligence systems cannot be named as inventors in patents, the guidance from these jurisdictions suggests that patents may be granted to human inventors that use AI as a sophisticated tool, say lawyers at Mayer Brown.
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EU Report Is A Valuable Guide For Data Controllers
The European Data Protection Board recently published a study of cases handled by national supervisory authorities where uniform application of the General Data Protection Regulation was prioritized, providing data controllers with arguments for an adequate response to manage liability in case of a breach and useful insights into how security requirements are assessed, say Thibaut D'hulst and Malik Aouadi at Van Bael.
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UK Court Ruling Reinforces CMA's Info-Gathering Powers
An English appeals court's recent decision in the BMW and Volkswagen antitrust cases affirmed that the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority can request information from entities outside the U.K., reinstating an important implement in the CMA's investigative toolkit, say lawyers at White & Case.
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UK Ruling Revitalizes Discussions On Harmonizing AI And IP
The U.K. Supreme Court's decision in Thaler v. Comptroller-General last month has reinvigorated ongoing discussions about how the developments in artificial intelligence fit within the existing intellectual property legislative landscape, illustrating that effective regulation will be critical as the value and influence of this sector grows, say Nick White and Olivia Gray at Charles Russell.
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Employers Can 'Waive' Goodbye To Unknown Future Claims
The Scottish Court of Session's recent decision in Bathgate v. Technip Singapore, holding that unknown future claims in a qualifying settlement agreement can be waived, offers employers the possibility of achieving a clean break when terminating employees and provides practitioners with much-needed guidance on how future cases might be dealt with in court, says Natasha Nichols at Farrer & Co.