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Commercial Litigation UK
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May 17, 2024
Fla. Investor Says Mining Co. Froze His Shares In Costly Error
An investor and former employee of a Canadian mining company alleged breach of fiduciary duty and negligence against the business, saying in a lawsuit in Florida federal court that he was wrongfully prevented from selling his shares and lost money when the stock price dropped following an unfavorable arbitration ruling.
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May 17, 2024
Imprisoned Oligarch Partly Wins Bid To Expand $14B Claim
An imprisoned Russian billionaire partly succeeded in a London court Friday in adding new allegations to his $13.8 billion claim alleging his business empire was fraudulently taken in a wide-ranging Russian state conspiracy.
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May 17, 2024
Law Firm Beats Temp Receptionist's Discrimination Claims
A law firm in southern England fended off several disability discrimination and harassment claims from a temporary receptionist, after an employment tribunal ruled she wasn't legally disabled.
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May 17, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen a wave of claims filed against Verity Trustees Ltd., Harley-Davidson hit retailer Next with an intellectual property claim, Turkish e-commerce entrepreneur Demet Mutlu sue her ex-husband and Trendyol co-founder Evren Üçok and the Solicitors Regulation Authority file a claim against the former boss of collapsed law firm Axiom. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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May 17, 2024
Red Bull Fends Off 'Gives You Wings' TM Challenge
Red Bull has beaten a challenge to its "Gives You Wings" trademark after the energy drink giant convinced an appellate panel at the European Union Intellectual Property Office that it had genuinely used the trademark to promote the beverage.
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May 17, 2024
Unite, GMB Unions Lose Pay Claim Against Housing Co.
More than 100 trade union members at a housing association have lost their employment tribunal claim accusing their employer of ducking out of pay negotiations after the tribunal found the charity did not intend to "narrow" the negotiations.
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May 17, 2024
Sports Direct Loses Newcastle Replica Kit Injunction Bid
Sports Direct has failed to force Newcastle United to stock its stores with replica kits of the Premier League football club, as an appeals court found Friday that the damage caused by a wrongly granted injunction would be "more fundamental" to the club.
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May 17, 2024
Risk For Employers As Bar For Protected Belief Claims Shifts
Employees face a low bar to gaining legal protection for objectionable views, as lawyers say it has become almost impossible for employers to distinguish philosophical beliefs akin to religion from politicized public debates.
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May 17, 2024
Sanctions Ruling Clarifies Force Majeure Contractual Rights
A decision by Britain's highest court that a shipowner could reject a client's attempt to sidestep payment restrictions imposed by U.S. sanctions has implications for disputes over force majeure clauses sparked by the effects of those measures, the war in Ukraine and the COVID pandemic on supply chains.
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May 17, 2024
Exec Was Fired Because His Wife Had Cancer, Tribunal Rules
The head of sales for a Hong Kong software company has won more than £90,000 ($114,000) after he was fired because his wife had terminal breast cancer.
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May 17, 2024
Disabled NHS Therapist Loses Forced Resignation Claim
A therapist has lost all her claims against an NHS trust after an employment tribunal ruled that her bosses had done their best to accommodate her disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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May 17, 2024
Post Office Used Womble Bond To Avoid Looking Like 'Bullies'
The Post Office retained Womble Bond Dickinson in a civil case brought by victims of the Horizon scandal because a more aggressive law firm might make it look like "bullies," an executive for the organization told an inquiry Friday.
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May 17, 2024
Local Authorities Bid To Toss Truck Makers' Pass-On Defense
A lawyer acting for 136 local authorities across the U.K. urged a tribunal on Friday to prevent European truck manufacturers from arguing that they passed on higher costs allegedly paid for vehicles through higher tax and service charges for residents.
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May 17, 2024
Translation Lecturer At SOAS Loses Race Discrimination Case
A professor has lost her claim for racial discrimination and harassment against her London university, as a tribunal found that a colleague speaking with her about a Japanese restaurant was not being detrimental and that the exchange did not constitute discrimination.
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May 16, 2024
Post Office's Ex-IT Head Says She Blocked Ex-CEO Requests
The Post Office's former head of information technology said she blocked phone communication from former chief executive Paula Vennells after Vennells contacted her for help to "avoid an independent inquiry" into the wrongful prosecutions of sub-postmasters, according to a document made public in the probe Thursday.
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May 16, 2024
Tesco Warehouse Staff Lose 'Hopeless' Claims Against Union
A trade union successfully struck out negligence and breach of duty claims brought against it by two Tesco warehouse workers over a preceding collective agreement, after a London court ruled that they had "no real prospect of succeeding."
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May 16, 2024
Bayer Fights To Overturn Xarelto Blood Thinner Patent Loss
Pharma giant Bayer AG took its fight against a slew of generic-drug makers to keep its patent over its blockbuster drug Xarelto to the Court of Appeal on Thursday, saying the lower court was wrong to nix the patent and that it does contain an important inventive step.
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May 16, 2024
TM Liability Ruling A 'Get Out Of Jail Free Card' For Execs
A ruling by Britain's highest court puts the burden on brand owners to prove that executives at the company knew about any alleged trademark infringement from their business to be sued. This landmark ruling is likely to impede brand owners who are looking to enforce their intellectual property.
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May 16, 2024
NCA Says Uyghur Cotton Probe Would Soon Unravel
The National Crime Agency defended on Thursday its decision to refuse to investigate imported cotton produced in a Chinese province with forced labor, telling an appeals court that it would be kneecapped by the difficulty of separating legal goods from criminal property.
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May 16, 2024
No Docs Due To 6,000 Tesco Workers In Equal Pay Case
Thousands of Tesco workers lost their appeal on Thursday for correspondence between the supermarket and other equal pay claimants.
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May 16, 2024
Russian Wealth Fund Fails To Curb EU Sanctions
The European Union's General Court has upheld sanctions against a Russian sovereign wealth fund, ruling it is the "archetypal" company for attracting international investors who sustain the country's war in Ukraine.
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May 16, 2024
M&G Accounts Manager Wins £13K Over Resignation Dispute
An accounts manager at M&G PLC has won more than £13,000 ($16,500) after an employment tribunal found that the company wrongly refused to let him see out his 12-week notice period while on garden leave.
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May 16, 2024
EUIPO Didn't Deny Fair Hearing To TM Opponent, Court Says
An industrial technology company has survived a challenge to its "UC" trademark hopes as an opponent failed to persuade a European Union court that officials had failed to handle his case fairly in earlier proceedings.
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May 15, 2024
800 Drivers Join Minimum Wage Claim Against Used Car Biz
More than 800 drivers have joined the legal battle against a secondhand car dealer to be classified as "workers," in a bid for minimum wage and paid holidays, the law firm steering the action said on Thursday.
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May 15, 2024
Justices Mull What Defines A Computer In AI Appeal
A London appeals court grappled Wednesday with what exactly constitutes a "computer" under patent law, as counsel for an AI company attempted to convince the courts to let be a ruling that held its AI invention is neither a computer nor a program, and therefore patentable.
Expert Analysis
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Experian Ruling Helps Cos. Navigate GDPR Transparency
In Information Commissioner v. Experian, the Upper Tribunal recently reaffirmed the lawfulness of the company's marketing practices, providing guidance that will assist organizations in complying with the GDPR’s transparency obligations, say lawyers at Jenner & Block.
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Salvaging The Investor-State Arbitration System's Legitimacy
Recent developments in Europe and Ecuador highlight the vulnerability of the investor-state arbitration framework, but arbitrators can avert a crisis by relying on a poorly understood doctrine of fairness and equity, rather than law, to resolve the disputes before them, says Phillip Euell at Diaz Reus.
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UK Trademark Law May Further Diverge From EU Standards
The recently enacted Retained EU Law Act, which removes the principle of EU law supremacy, offers a path for U.K. trademark law to distance itself even further from EU precedent — beyond the existing differences between the two trademark examination processes, say David Kemp and Michael Shaw at Marks & Clerk.
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Clarity Is Central Theme In FCA's Greenwashing Guidance
Recent Financial Conduct Authority guidance for complying with the U.K. regulator's anti-greenwashing rule sends an overarching message that sustainability claims must be clear, accurate and capable of being substantiated, say lawyers at Cadwalader.
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How Clinical Trials Affect Patentability In US And Europe
A comparison of recent U.S. and European patent decisions — concerning the effect of disclosures in clinical trials on the patentability of products — offers guidance on good practice for companies dealing with public use issues and prior art documents in these commercially important jurisdictions, say lawyers at Finnegan.
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ECHR Ruling May Pave Path For A UK Climate Damage Tort
In light of case law on the interaction between human rights law and common law, the European Court of Human Rights' recent ruling in KlimaSeniorinnen v. Switzerland, finding the country at fault for failures to tackle global warming, could tip the scales toward extending English tort law to cover climate change-related losses, say lawyers at Cleary.
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Disciplinary Ruling Has Lessons For Lawyers On Social Media
A recent Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal judgment against a solicitor for online posts deemed antisemitic and offensive highlights the serious sanctions that can stem from conduct on social media and the importance of law firms' efforts to ensure that their employees behave properly, say Liz Pearson and Andrew Pavlovic at CM Murray.
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The Art Of Corporate Apologies: Crafting An Effective Strategy
Public relations challenges often stop companies from apologizing amid alleged wrongdoing, but a recent U.K. government consultation seeks to make this easier, highlighting the importance of corporate apologies and measures to help companies balance the benefits against the potential legal ramifications, says Dina Hudson at Byfield Consultancy.
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What UK Supreme Court Strike Ruling Means For Employers
Although the U.K. Supreme Court recently declared in Mercer v. Secretary of State that part of a trade union rule and employees' human rights were incompatible, the decision will presumably not affect employer engagement with collective bargaining, as most companies are already unlikely to rely on the rule as part of their broader industrial relations strategy, say lawyers at Baker McKenzie.
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Taking Stock Of The Latest Criminal Court Case Statistics
The latest quarterly statistics on the type and volume of cases processed through the criminal court illustrate the severity of the case backlog, highlighting the need for urgent and effective investment in the system, say Ernest Aduwa and Jessica Sarwat at Stokoe Partnership.
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Hugh Grant Case Raises Questions About Part 36 Offers
Actor Hugh Grant's recent decision to settle his privacy suit by accepting a so-called Part 36 offer from News Group — to avoid paying a larger sum in legal costs by proceeding to trial — illustrates how this legal mechanism can be used by parties to force settlements, raising questions about its tactical use and fairness, says Colin Campbell at Kain Knight.
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Accounting For Climate Change In Flexible Working Requests
Although the U.K. government's recent updates to the country's flexible working laws failed to include climate change as a factor for evaluating remote work requests, employers are not prohibited from considering the environmental benefits — or drawbacks — of an employee's request to work remotely, say Jonathan Carr and Gemma Taylor at Lewis Silkin.
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Opinion
New Property Category Not Needed To Regulate Digital Assets
The U.K. Law Commission's exploration of whether to create a third category of property for digital assets is derived from a misreading of historical case law, and would not be helpful in resolving any questions surrounding digital assets, says Duncan Sheehan at the University of Leeds.
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Employer Lessons From Red Bull's Misconduct Investigation
Red Bull’s recent handling of a high-profile investigation into team principal Christian Horner’s alleged misconduct toward a colleague serves as a reminder of the importance of thorough internal grievance and disciplinary processes, and offers lessons for employers hoping to minimize media attention, say Charlotte Smith and Adam Melling at Walker Morris.
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Breaking Down The EPO's Revised Practice Guidelines
The European Patent Office's updated guidelines for examination recently took effect and include significant changes related to the priority right presumption, the concept of plausibility and artificial intelligence, providing invaluable insight on obtaining patents from the office, say lawyers at Finnegan.