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Supreme Court upholds requirement to record variations in writing
24 May 2018Rock Advertising Limited v MWB Business Exchange Centres Limited is an important case. In fact, the opening paragraph of Lord Sumption’s judgment describes it as an “exceptional” appeal, raising “truly fundamental issues” of contract law.
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Irish abortion referendum produces toxic mix of politics and advertising
23 May 2018On a recent trip to Dublin, what struck me most, was the sight of lampposts festooned with 2 or even 3 separate, competing ads 'for' and 'against' the repeal of the 8th Amendment of the Irish constitution, which bans abortion. The referendum on its repeal takes place this Friday (25th May) while the rest of the EU frets about GDPR implementation.
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Construction Law Update – Fighting back against “Smash and Grab” Adjudications
21 May 2018The case of Grove Developments Ltd v S&T (UK) Ltd (February 2018) is worthy of note, not least because it potentially provides employers with a quick means of reclaiming the loss suffered, following a “smash and grab” adjudication by starting its own adjudication on the true value.
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Appeal judgment confirms Addison Lee cycle couriers are workers
17 May 2018In the latest decision on employment status in the gig economy, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) has dismissed an appeal by Addison Lee against an Employment Tribunal (“ET”) decision that its cycle couriers were “workers” and so entitled to holiday pay.
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Five in 5
15 May 2018A series of five hints, tips and thoughts you should definitely remember as part of your sponsor reporting obligations.
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Liquidator loses protection of a freezing order following serious failings at earlier ex parte hearing
14 May 2018In Banca Turco Romana S.A. (in liquidation) v Cortuk and Others, the Commercial Court in London has underlined the need for applicants to give full and frank disclosure when seeking relief at ex parte (without notice) hearings.
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Smart Cities and Renewable Energy
14 May 2018In the time before smart cities, electricity by and large was generated by burning fossil fuels in relatively remote locations before being transmitted via high-voltage power lines to population centres.
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Failing to enhance pay for shared parental leave may be indirect sex discrimination
04 May 2018The EAT has indicated that enhancing maternity pay, but not pay for taking shared parental leave, may give rise to an indirect sex discrimination claim by fathers. This follows last month’s EAT decision that a failure to pay a father enhanced pay for shared parental leave was not direct sex discrimination.
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Are documents generated in the course of an investigation protected by litigation privilege?
01 May 2018Two recent cases concerning the applicability of litigation privilege to documents generated in the course of investigations show that it is easier to obtain that protection where the subject of the investigation is a civil rather than criminal matter.
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Ask About...Retail, Fashion and Hospitality
01 May 2018Many of our clients in the retail, fashion and hospitality sector face similar HR issues. Each month one of the members of our team will identify an issue, ask how you would deal with it and provide our advice. This month we asked Emma...
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Retirement and age discrimination – recent developments in Ireland
30 April 2018According to latest statistics, claims of age discrimination made up 14% of cases raised by members of the public to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (“IHREC”) under Irish employment legislation. Compulsory and contractual retirement ages in particular have become an increasing area of litigation in Ireland in recent times.
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EHRC gets tough on enforcing gender pay gap reporting
26 April 2018Enquiries by Lewis Silkin have revealed that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (“EHRC”) is adopting a rigorous approach to enforcement of the gender pay gap reporting (“GPGR”) regime.
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Sports Q&A – We store medical and biometric data of our athletes, what will GDPR and the UK Data Protection Bill mean for this?
26 April 2018The GDPR, which comes into force on 25 May 2018, imposes more onerous requirements when processing (including storing) ‘special categories’ of personal data, which includes ‘data concerning health’ and ‘biometric data’. The processing of ‘special’ personal data is prohibited unless the data controller can show that an exception applies.
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Find a Job service to replace Universal Jobmatch
25 April 2018The Government has announced that Universal Jobmatch will be replaced by the Find a Job service on 14 May 2018. Your existing Universal Jobmatch account will not move to the new service.
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Brands and IP newsnotes - issue 7
23 April 2018Welcome to the 7th edition of our Brands & IP newsnotes put together to bring you the latest, and most interesting legal developments affecting intellectual property law. In this issue we cover; Nando’s taking legal action against ‘copycat’ restaurant, Fernando’s, Sky v SkyKick referred to CJEU, Brexit & IP, IP & trading names, luxury brand owners rights to prohibit reselling of their products through some internet platforms and Time’s up for Smartwatch appeal.
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Brexit means BrexIP? (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 7)
23 April 2018Struggling to keep up with Brexit? IP Newsnotes brings you the latest on the negotiations as they impact IP.
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Time’s up for Smartwatch appeal (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 7)
23 April 2018The CJEU has dismissed an appeal against a decision not to invalidate a smartwatch design held by Nike, ruling that “pioneering” designs do not attract greater protection.
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The Sky’s the limit? Sky v SkyKick referred to CJEU (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 7)
23 April 2018In the latest instalment of Sky v SkyKick, the UK High Court has referred several questions to the CJEU relating to trade mark validity, requesting guidance on the limits of bad faith when a mark lacks clarity and precision.
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Nando’s v Fernando’s – a peri peri good idea? (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 7)
23 April 2018The well-known high street chicken restaurant, Nando’s, has attracted legal and national headlines in its pursuit of ‘copycat’ restaurant, Fernando’s, based in Reading.
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Mercky stuff: when do websites target the UK? (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 7)
23 April 2018Over the last few years, a long-running dispute has heated up between the US and European pharmaceutical companies that both trade under variations of the name “Merck”.