Bond or Guarantee?
The High Court has refused summary judgment in a claim to enforce a document which the claimant argued was a performance bond. The court held that the defendant had an arguable case that the document was a guarantee, not a…
First to File Gains Trade Mark
When an agricultural equipment manufacturer found that another company had registered a Community Trade Mark (CTM) that was similar to one of its own brand names, it opposed the registration, arguing that the company that had registered it had only…
Further Clarity on Optical Trade Mark Case
A recent case dealt with the vexed question of how similar one’s advertising can be to the trade marks of another company before this constitutes an infringement of its intellectual property rights. When supermarket giant ASDA sought to break into…
Business sanctioned for misleading advertising
Businesses should be made aware that making misleading claims in their advertising is illegal. The High Court, in judicial review proceedings, has recently held that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) was entitled to find that a company had breached the…
Arrangement Between Friends Scuppers IVA
When a man was worried that his creditors would not approve his proposals for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), he took innovative steps to ensure that when the meeting of creditors was held a majority of them voted for it…
Late Registration of Title Means Battle
A recent case dealt with the thankfully rare circumstance of someone buying a property without knowing that the vendor is a bankrupt. When the buyer bought the property, the search of the title at the Land Registry did not show…
I Didn’t Know What I Was Signing
A company director who was misled into signing a guarantee over a lease, when he thought he was merely witnessing his fellow director’s signature, has escaped liability under the guarantee. Joshua Yardley signed the guarantee, over a 35-year lease on…
Contract With Broker Does Not Guarantee Funds
When a mortgage brokerage agrees to arrange finance for a customer, does that mean that it has provided a guarantee that the required funding will be found? This question was the subject of a recent case in the Court of…
FSA Fines Three Over Share Dealing
When a transaction occurred that should have aroused suspicion, the subsequent investigation by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) led to fines for three of the people involved. The transaction involved the sale of a 13.3 per cent holding in pub…
Fraud and the Director
With the economy still struggling, dubious business practices can be expected to be more common than normal, as is evidenced by the expulsion from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales of two members who have each recently been…