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  • A milestone for R&D agreements?

    06 July 2017

    R&D agreements can often cover commercially significant and highly technical subject areas. In Astex Therapeutics Limited v AstraZeneca AB [2017] EWHC 1442 (Ch) the court has had to decide on the interpretation of an R&D agreement and whether certain “collaboration compounds” were within the scope of the agreement, triggering milestone payments or not.

  • To UPC or not UPC – implementation of Unified Patent Court delayed (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 5)

    23 June 2017

    The Unified Patent Court (UPC) is intended to provide a regional forum resolve patent disputes. At the moment, parties have to litigate patent disputes on a country by country basis across Europe, which is time-consuming, expensive and can lead to differing decisions in some countries. UPC decisions will have effect in all 25 states participating in the UPC, providing a single forum to resolve these disputes.

  • Service of a claim form on an agent - was it valid?

    22 June 2017

    In a recent case the High Court considered as a preliminary issue whether a claimant had validly served a claim form on what they considered was the agent of the claimant. The rules of service require that the defendant must be served at the place within the jurisdiction where it conducts business, or where it carries on its activities and which has a real connection with the claim. Therefore the question here was whether the agent’s office was a place at which the defendant conducted its business, or where it carried on its activities?

  • Competition watchdog turns the spotlight on to eCommerce

    15 June 2017

    We have written an article for Essential Retail which takes a look at the European Commission’s report on competition in eCommerce.

  • Will you pass the red face test? - Naming and shaming of late payers has now arrived

    09 May 2017

    From 6 April this year, all large UK companies (and limited liability partnerships) are now subject to a new regime which requires them to publish, on a Government website, detailed reports on their supplier payment policies and practices. The Regulations are designed to create public transparency of large businesses’ payment policies and practices, primarily for the benefit of small and medium-sized suppliers.

  • Helping to shape the Global Driverless Revolution

    03 May 2017

    In this article, we look at the road ahead for autonomous vehicles.

  • James Gill comments for Real Business: What you should know about naming and shaming of late payers

    Press

    04 April 2017

    Head of Lewis Silkin's Commercial and Technology group, James Gill has written an article for Real Business on the latest payment reporting regulations that came into force this month.

  • CMA offers cash for whistleblowers

    20 March 2017

  • Top 5 GDPR issues for... retailers

    15 March 2017

    The first in our series of Top 5 tips on GDPR. With the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) looming on the horizon, we take a look at some of the key changes of how this legislation will affect retailers from 25 May 2018.

  • Dating apps get even more interesting

    17 February 2017

    A Scottish court has recently refused to find that a legal partnership existed between two former friends and Mr Elliott in relation to a business arrangement to develop and exploit a couple of online dating apps. The court held that, without a contract, there was no partnership and Mr Elliott was not obliged to share the profits from the venture with the friends.

  • Estate agent unable to claim his fee on successful property sale

    17 February 2017

    The Court of Appeal has decided that it cannot imply contractual terms where there is no contract in the first place. In this case, it would not imply a term to enable an estate agent to recover his commission on a sale.

  • Sexual portrayal of under-18s in ads

    18 January 2017

    Following a number of adjudications in recent years concerning the sexualised portrayal of children and young people, as well as the publication of various reports calling for action to stop the premature sexualisation of children, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has launched a consultation on the proposed introduction of new rules in the UK advertising codes prohibiting the sexual portrayal of under 18s in advertising. The consultation is open for response until 5pm 19 January 2017.

  • Tech Predictions for 2017

    03 January 2017

    Tech continues to be the single most influential factor in how we live our lives, both at work and at home and usually (but clearly not always) helps to enhance the quality of life.

  • Getting the best out of AI in Retail

    19 December 2016

    It is no secret that artificial intelligence (AI) has come on leaps and bounds in the past few years and now its benefits are fast becoming very apparent in the retail sector. In both the offline and online world, retailers are utilising AI to shake up the status quo. The question is: how do you make AI work in your business and what are the key legal considerations to think about when using AI?

  • Video commerce the next frontier for retailers

    08 November 2016

    Retailers are increasingly becoming broadcasters and looking to sell their goods via shoppable videos and other platforms.

  • Brexit legal challenge succeeds

    03 November 2016

    The High Court has decided that the Government does not have prerogative powers to give the Article 50 notice terminate the UK’s membership of the EU.

  • Treat your (small) customer fairly or pay the price of more legislation?

    01 September 2016

    Economic times are still pretty tough and likely to get tougher for small businesses up and down the country.

  • Warning to all Principals - Software may be good...

    26 July 2016

    In recent years there has been much discussion on whether software is considered a "good" for the purpose of Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 ("Regulations"). Broadly speaking, the Regulations apply to agents who sell or purchase goods (and not services) on behalf of their principal in the UK and provide such agents with extra contractual protections particularly on termination.

  • Brexit: Implications for Commercial Contracts

    21 July 2016

    This note looks at some initial steps that businesses can take to identify and manage risk in existing and new contracts.

  • TRADER ALERT: Consumer Law Changes - Are You Ready for 13 June 2014...?

    Inbrief

    19 May 2014

    If you trade with consumers, you should read on! The (somewhat indelicately named) Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations come into force on 13 June 2014. They implement part of the Consumer Rights Directive and contain important changes.

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