Insights & News
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UK Trade Marks
Inbrief
21 May 2019A trade mark registration for a business, brand or product name, a logo, slogan or other trade mark provides a business with the most effective form of protection against a competitor making improper use of its trade mark. Whilst a trade mark might be capable of being protected through other areas of the law, such as passing off, copyright or design right, registering a trade mark has a number of important benefits.
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Trade Marks in the United States
Inbrief
21 May 2019Trade mark rights in the United States arise from use of a trade mark, not registration. However, a registration acts as a public record of your trade mark, and places other possible users of the same or confusingly similar marks that you already holds rights in the trade mark throughout all fifty states. Whilst registration is not mandatory in the United States, registration is highly recommended; proving the existence of unregistered rights in your trade mark is difficult, very expensive, and at best, can show rights only in those States where you can show you have actively used the trade mark.
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Trade Mark and Design Searches
Inbrief
21 May 2019Whenever a new launch is proposed, whether it is for a product, brand, business name or an advertising campaign, there is always a risk that someone else is already using an identical or a similar name or design. If so, then that party may be entitled to obtain an immediate injunction from the court to prevent the launch and obtain damages for trade mark, design right or copyright infringement and/or passing off.
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Brand Clearance Guide
Inbrief
21 May 2019A practical guide to brand clearance including details on the range of searches available (such as trade mark searches, strapline searches, common law searches and domain name searches), information on budgeting for clearance and general strategic advice.
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European Union Trade Marks
Inbrief
21 May 2019A European Union trade mark (“EUTM”) is a single trade mark registration that provides trade mark protection in 28 of the European Union territories. This will change to 27 territories if/when the UK leaves the EU.
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International Trade Marks
Inbrief
21 May 2019Whilst there is no single trade mark registration that covers the entire world, knowledge of the various regional and international filing systems means that global protection can be achieved with greater ease and less expense than filing national trade mark applications in each country.
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Preparing a trade mark infringement or passing off case: practical considerations?
Inbrief
21 May 2019This checklist is aimed at rights owners and their advisers, including in-house lawyers, who are considering bringing a trade mark or passing off action in the UK. It provides a brief series of tips and pointers on things to consider when preparing a case.
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Selling your business
Inbrief
13 May 2019Many business-owners look to sell at some point. The reasons for selling may vary but often it is the opportunity for an owner to capitalise on the years of hard work that have gone into building up his or her business.
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Establishing a business presence in the UK
Inbrief
13 April 2019If you are a non-UK corporate body and you wish to establish a business presence in the UK, this brief guide covers the main issues you need to consider.
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Share buy backs - what’s the fuss?
Inbrief
13 March 2019When a company is planning a share buy back (or purchase of its own shares) it’s time to be careful. This note explains why you need to be careful, and summarises the company law issues that must be addressed in advance before the company enters into any commitments.
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Community Infrastructure Levy
Inbrief
18 January 2019The Community Infrastructure Levy (“CIL”) is a discretionary planning charge which was introduced in 2010 through the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010.
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Section 106 Agreements - a note for anyone developing land
Inbrief
18 January 2019When granting planning permission for development, local planning authorities often impose planning obligations on the party promoting the development. These obligations are usually contained in what are known as Section 106 Agreements or Planning Agreements – separate legal agreements that sit alongside the planning permission. Those agreements will, generally, bind the land to which the planning permission relates – so anyone who owns that land will be bound by the obligations.
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Disability discrimination
Inbrief
20 December 2018The main provisions of the Equality Act 2010 (“the Act”) came into force on 1 October 2010. The Act attempts to harmonise and consolidate diversity law across all strands of discrimination. With regards to disability discrimination, the Act is mainly a restatement of the law found in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (“the DDA”), which it has replaced. However, it also made some significant changes and additions to the law.
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Boundaries
Inbrief
19 December 2018The purpose of this guide is to help you should you need to identify the extent of a site or ownership and responsibility of boundaries.
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Trespassers will be prosecuted.....or will they?
Inbrief
19 December 2018Trespassers or “squatters” can present major issues for owners of commercial land and buildings.
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Why have tailored articles of association and even a shareholders agreement
Inbrief
13 December 2018If you are setting up a company with your business partner, you may be tempted to rely solely on the statutory default articles of association for private companies limited by shares (the Model Articles) to govern the internal procedures of the company, and the corporate relationship between you. These notes show why you really should consider having articles that are tailored to your circumstances, and even a shareholders’ agreement, between you and your partner - even if you wouldn’t dream of falling out with him or her.
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GDPR: 11 steps to take
Inbrief
26 July 2018The data protection landscape has changed. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) came into force on 25 May 2018.
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The General Data Protection Regulation for employers
Inbrief
06 July 2018The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is European legislation affecting all organisations that hold personal data on living individuals. It aims to ensure that organisations using and processing personal data do so fairly and lawfully and gives a number of rights to individuals in terms of how they can access their data and influence its use.
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Dismissals for “some other substantial reason”
Inbrief
25 May 2018“Some other substantial reason” (“SOSR”) is one of the potentially fair reasons for dismissing an employee. It can cover a wide variety of situations and can be a very useful tool for employers in unusual situations, although there are some limits on when it can be used.
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Settlement agreements
Inbrief
25 May 2018First introduced by statute in 1993, settlement agreements (previously known as compromise agreements) have become increasingly common as a means for an employer and employee to settle claims and/or effect a clean break from the employment relationship.