A building company is facing up to a damages bill of almost £600,000 after a simple error by one of its employees in failing to extend the hydraulic feet of a mobile crane resulted in an industrial accident that caused…
When key staff left a publisher and set up in competition, the High Court was called upon to consider the question of who should have control over the LinkedIn groups they had created – the former employees or their erstwhile…
When a company proposed new contracts for two of its senior directors, the non-executive directors (NEDs) on the board were sent drafts of the new contracts for review. The company’s solicitors were then instructed to finalise the contracts. The NEDs…
The UK Intellectual Property Office has refused an application by Chanel to register the word ‘Jersey’ as a trade mark on the ground that, as a geographical term, it would not be appropriate to deny its availability to other businesses…
The case concerning the use of a competitor’s name in ‘keyword’ marketing for Internet searches has now been decided and the ruling has implications for those who use such practices. The dispute involved Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Interflora. M&S…
A couple who engaged a contractor to carry out work on their house have succeeded in their claim against the architect in respect of the cost of putting right defects in the contractor’s work. The couple bought a five-storey house…
When a Spanish company entered into a lending agreement with another company, the ultimate purpose of which was to facilitate a property development in the Strand in London, the downturn in the economy and other factors caused the lender to…
The Insolvency Service takes a tough line when a director of an insolvent company is found to have behaved in a way that was seriously prejudicial to the interests of creditors. Recently, the director of an online jewellery company that…
Where activities are outsourced, or where there is a change in contractor providing the activities, or where outsourced activities are brought back in-house, then the employment of anyone within an organised grouping of employees carrying out those activities transfers automatically…
In a warning to the business community that it can sometimes be hazardous to mix business with pleasure, a judge has emphasised that ‘chatty’ emails, partly devoted to discussion of the provenance and vintage of fine wine, did not conclude…
