Cases & Issues

Ambiguous Guarantee The High Court decided in Fliptex Limited v Edney Enterprises Limited that it would give effect to the
ordinary words of the guarantee 26.04.03 Law-Now
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Harvey Vs ADI The lessons learned from the recent case of Harvey Shop Fitters Ltd Vs ADI Ltd 24.04.03 Law-Now
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Martin Bashir Bashir faced official criticism from the Broadcasting Standards Commission as a complaint was partly upheld regarding a report for 'Tonight with Trevor McDonald' 23.04.03 Cloisters
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DOUGLAS v HELLO! In a thorough and clear judgment handed down in the High Court on 11 April, Mr Justice Lindsay found for Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in their action for breach of confidence (with an award of nominal damages under the Data Protection Act), but against them in their privacy claim 14.04.03 Simkins Partnership, Zeta Jones & Douglas v Hello Links, Privacy Links, Data Protection Links
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Legal Advice Privilege The case of Three Rivers District Council Vs The Bank of England was overturned on appeal. The Court of Appeal decided that privilege did not extend to documents communicated to a solicitor for advice to be taken on them 14.04.03 Law-Now, Legal Privilege Links
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Agency Workers Another decision, this time from the court of appeal, Franks v Reuters 11.04.03 Daniel Barnett , Agency Workers Links
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Transsexuals The House of Lords handed down its decision today on the much anticipated topic of whether someone can change their gender on paper 10.04.03 Daniel Barnett
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Holiday Pay In MPB Structures Ltd v Munro the Scottish equvalent of the Court of Appeal Ruled that employers could not pay holiday pay parallel to regualr pay 08.04.03 Daniel Barnett, Law-Now, Keeble Hawson, Employment Links
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US Vote to Ban Cloning The House of Representatives recently voted to ban all research on stem cells for therapeutic and reproductive purposes 04.04.03 Law-Now, Fertility Links

Business

Misselling Guidance Upon suggestion of clarity over what constitutes misseling, the FSA has produced a press release which does this, sort of. 25.04.03 Law-Now
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New ACAS Code The new ACAS Code of Practice on Time Off for Trade Union Duties and Activities came into force yesterday 28.04.03 Daniel Barnett
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Takeover Code The Takeover Panel announced that the proposals set out in the Consultation Paper published in January, to amend Rule 31.9 of the Takeover Code would be adopted without amendment 26.04.03 Law-Now
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Vodafone Unreglated Oftel has proposed to remove SMP controls on Vodafone and O2 01.05.03 Law-Now
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Competition Act The OFT has dealt with a number of cases under the competition act, resulting in fines totalling £34.4m 30.04.03 Law-Now
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Ireland Implements Law Ireland has finally implemented the Data Protection Directive 29.04.03 Eversheds
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Overseas Outsourcing Debating the issues of outsourcing call centres to countries such as India 30.04.03 Eversheds
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Water Merger The proposed merger between French company Vivnedi Water UK and First Aqua (JV Co) has been put on hold by the competition minister after the Competition Commision allowed it to go ahead 24.04.03 Law-Now
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Gas & Oil Pipelines The European commission has closed it's investigation in to Dutch oil company Gasunie for it's apparent refusal to allow access to a Norwegian subsidiary of US oil company Marathon 23.04.03 Law-Now
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PFI Secondary Market Financial investors have been at the forefront of the
development of the PFI/PPP market. It was their
willingness to raise the funding and to invest time and effort in bidding with contractors and operators for the first PFI projects 22.04.03 Law-Now
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Careful, You Might Offend The Committee of Advertising Practice today warned of causing offence after a pending US case involving two black men boarding an aeroplane making a racist link to a seemingly insignificant nursery rhyme 17.04.03 Masons, Racism Links
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Water Bill The UK Government's long awaited Water Bill was published on the 20 February 2003. Once finalised, it will make
substantial changes to the law relating to water 15.04.03 Law-Now
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Environment Environment factors in the Budget 2003 15.04.03 Law-Now, Budget 2003 Links
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Block Exemption Regulation Insurance. Certain agreements and practices in the insurance sector are exempt from the prohibition on cartels under EC and UK Competition Law 15.04.03 Law-Now
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Sustainable Energy The Sustainable Energy Bill has progressed to the commitee stage, and will be required to build on recommendations by the PIU and the Energy White Paper 11.04.03 Law-Now
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Biotechnology Highlighting some problems in the implementing of the European Biotechnology Directive in some member states 12.04.03 Law-Now
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Equal Pay The new equal pay questionnaire is available online 11.04.03 Daniel Barnett
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Pay TV Monopolies in the European pay TV market have incensed the European Commision to regulate it. 08.04.03 Simkins
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Legislation Commencement Some dates which have been announced for the enforcement of employment legislation 06.04.03 Daniel Barnett, Keeble Hawson
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Tax Simplification Responses to Green Paper and Tax Simplification Paper 04.04.03 Law-Now, Tax Links

Text Spam Scam ICSTIS has fined service provider Polo Limited £15,000 and barred access to its premium rate text service for one year as a result of misleading text spams sent by the company 03.04.03 Law-Now
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Travel Websites Investigated The OFT and 55 local trading standards authorities have investigated travel websites to identify those making potentially misleading claims about travel deals 03.04.03 Eversheds
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Share Acquisition The companies act prevents any company or its subsiduaries from offering financial assistance to someone wishing to buy their shares 01.04.03 Law-Now

Employment

Unfair Dismissal English working abroad for the government cannot bring a case of unfair dismissal in England, or in the country they are working. 28.04.03 Daniel Barnett
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TUPE: EAT Decision The EAT has ruled recently that liability for failing to consult employees on a TUPE transfer will pass to the Purchaser. Alamo Group (Europe) Limited v Tucker 18.04.03 Law-Now
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New EAT Decisions Bamsey v Albion Engineering and Aylward v Glamorgan Holiday Hotel, dealing with holiday pay and redundancy 16.04.03 Daniel Barnett
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EAT Rules on Unfair Bonuses Employers must be prepared if challenged to demonstrate that decisions under discretionary bonus schemes are not discriminatory 04.04.03 Cloisters, Daniel Barnett, Sexism Links
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Consent to Assignment The Landlord & Tenant Act 1988 places statutory duties upon the landlord in relation to granting consent to dealings with leasehold property 01.04.03 Keeble Hawson, Landlord and Tenant Links
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Agency Workers Dacas Vs Brook Street. The EAT found that Mrs Dacas was an employee of Brook St. even though her contract stated that she was not 01.04.03 Keeble Hawson, Agency Workers Links

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Supplementary Patent Cert. It is now possible to apply to extend a patent on a drug for up to five years 26.04.03 Law-Now
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P2P Victory A Federal Court in LA has ruled that companies which offer P2P file sharing services cannot be held liable for the copyright infringement of the users of their service 28.04.03 Masons Internet Piracy Links
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Oliver Kahn Sues EA German Goalkeeper Oliver Kahn has had Electronic Arts' FIFA World Cup 2002 game from sale in Germany, because he did not give rights to use his face 30.04.03 Masons
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Spam in Viriginia Any spammer convicted in Virginia may now be sentenced up to five years in America's toughest anti-spam laws 01.05.03 Masons, Spam Links
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IT and The Budget Last week's budget saw Chancellor Gordon Brown extend capital allowances for ICT spending until March 2004 and introduce research and development tax credits for all companies. 17.04.03 Eversheds, Budget 2003 Links
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Chips and PINs Smart Chips and PIN numbers are to replace the traditional signature for verifying credit and debit card
purchases in the UK by 2005 14.04.03 Masons
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Anti-Wal-Mart Site Shut A Satirical website offering users alternative bar codes for use at Wal-Mart has shut down following the threat of lawsuits 17.04.03 Masons
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EU Privacy Directive On 27 March, the DTI released its consultation paper on the UK implementation of the EU Directive on Privacy
and Electronic Communications 15.04.03 Law-Now, Simkins, Privacy Links
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3G in Europe The European Parliament has set out its strategy for broader consumer access and affordability to both broadband and 3G technologies 12.04.03 Law-Now
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Easy CD Burning Settled EasyInernetCafe makes a £210,000 settlement with the BPI, but Stelios promises more court action 10.04.03 Masons, Piracy Links
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Budget 2003 The ways in which the budget has affected the IT industry 10.04.03 Masons, Budget 2003 Links
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.sg Trademark the Singapore
Network Information Centre has withdrawn it's application for the trademark of the .sg domain name 04.04.03 Eversheds
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Disability Discrimination The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 imposes an obligation on companies with an on-line presence to ensure that their web sites are accessible to those with disabilities 01.04.03 Eversheds, Masons, Disabilty Discrimination Links

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Illegal Travel Sites More than 50 UK-based travel web sites make claims which could mislead consumers, according to the Office of Fair Trading 02.04.03 Masons
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Online Gambling Online gambling suffered another blow over the weekend with the news that
UK online bookmaker Sportingbet has been ordered to refund around 1
million pounds worth of stakes to Australian company K&S 31.03.03 Eversheds
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Spam and Cookies Center for Democracy & Technology has released their report on 6 months of research into spam, the UK government has issued proposals to crack down on unwanted emails and strengthen privacy rights 28.03.03 Eversheds
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Cookie Patent patent has been granted in the US to traffic management firm F5 Networks for a method of using cookies 24.03.03 Masons
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New IP Rules The new Patents Court Guide, and Civil Procedure Rule
63 with accompanying Practice Direction, were
published earlier this month 25.03.03 Law-Now
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RIAA Piracy Complaints The RIAA has sent letters to 300 companies alleging copyright infringement for use of file-swapping services such as KaZaA within their corporate networks 18.03.03 Masons
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Instant Messaging Can unsanctioned instant messaging and use of Kazaa within your company cause serious damage? Perhaps 12.03.03 Masons
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1.28M Have No Pension According to research by AXA at least 25,000 companies are breaking the law by not providing an
employee pension scheme, with around 1.28 million employees affected 12.03.03 Masons
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EU Patents The Competitiveness Council of Ministers met to announce a series of new Community patents options including a centralised patents court 11.03.03 Law-Now, Patent Links
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Interim Injunctions The Court of Appeals decision to uphold an interim injunction in Smithkline Beecham Vs Apotex may lead to more being granted in future 11.03.03 Law-Now
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Spam Crackdown A new set of rules came into force today that affect direct marketing by e-mail
and SMS text messaging 04.03.03 Masons
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Band Names Former Members of heavy metal band 'Saxon' dispute who owns the rights to the name, Byford Vs. Oliver + Dawson 03.03.03 Simkins
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Personal
Family + Injury + Property

Town Centre Regeneration Retailers in town centres can be directly affected by compulsory purchase (CPO) schemes for regeneration, even though their land is not actually proposed to be taken 29.04.03 Law-Now

Sponsored Links

Repair Obligations If a Landlord carries out external repairs/maintanence does this breach the tenants right to quiet enjoyment of the premesis? Only is some cases. 22.04.03 Keeble Hawson
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Affordable Housing The Mayor's draft London Plan has already proposed the policy objective of squeezing more affordable housing units out of development sites 02.04.03 Law-Now
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Inheritance Tax From Monday, 31 March, banks can be asked to pay inheritance tax direct to the Inland Revenue from bank accounts of
deceased customers without production of the Grant of Representation 01.04.03 Law-Now, Tax Links

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