Westshield Limited v David and Lisa Whitehouse [2013] 3576 EWHC (TCC); Akenhead J, 18 November 2013Executive SummaryIn this decision the TCC considered the impact of a CVA ("Company Voluntary Arrangement") on an adjudication decision and confirmed that challenges to the enforcement of adjudicators' decisions are not necessarily limited to jurisdictional or breach of natural justice arguments ...
The English case of Malcolm Newbury v Sun Microsystems Ltd, [2013] EWHC 2180 (Q8) illustrates the importance of carefully wording settlement offers. Although not a construction case, this of course applies equally to construction cases. Malcolm Newbury ("Mr Newbury") commenced legal proceedings against Sun Microsystems Ltd ("Sun") for just over US$2 million, being commission payable under a contract, and Sun counterclaimed for an alleged overpayment ...
On February 21, 2014, the Federal Circuit’s 6-4 majority en banc ruling in Lighting Ballast Control vs. Philips Electronic North America retained the standard of de novo appellate review of district court claim construction rulings, whereby the scope of the patent grant is reviewed as a matter of law ...
There are many famous cases where trademarks and passing off come into contact with unofficial merchandising and the right holder has been unsuccessful. They range from the fictional character Tarzan, to the rock band Linkin Park, to Diana Princess of Wales. There is no such thing as a matter of UK law as a free standing general right by a famous person (or anyone else) to control the reproduction of their image ...
On March 5, 2014, the US Supreme Court rendered a 7-2 decision reinstating a $185 million arbitration award in favor of the BG Group against Argentina under the UK-Argentina bilateral investment treaty (BIT). The Supreme Court held that the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit erred in deciding de novo, and without deference to the tribunal’s award, the issue of the arbitrators’ jurisdiction ...
There are many famous cases where trademarks and passing off come into contact with unofficial merchandising and the right holder has been unsuccessful. They range from the fictional character Tarzan, to the rock band Linkin Park, to Diana Princess of Wales. There is no such thing as a matter of UK law as a free standing general right by a famous person (or anyone else) to control the reproduction of their image ...
Misrepresentations and unfounded assertions of fact made to a party during pre-contractual negotiations can come back to bite you if they induce that party to enter into the contract. The Supreme Court case has emphasised that misrepresentations made to a non-contracting party can also result in liability for the party that made the misrepresentation ...
BackgroundThe case relates to the insolvency of a women’s fashion retailer and their shops in Bristol and Leicester.In 2010 the landlords entered into agreements to surrender and deeds of variation with the company in relation to the two shops. The agreements granted rent concessions and in return the company agreed to surrender the leases for a premium, payable by the company ...
Unlike in federal court, it is unclear in Florida state courts when the duty to preserve evidence arises. Ostensibly, under Florida law, there is no legal duty to preserve evidence until a discovery request is made. While there is no doubt that a party can be sanctioned for failing to preserve evidence after it has a duty to do so, several Florida courts have sanctioned parties for failing to preserve evidence even when there was no such duty under Florida law ...
The news last week that the development of the Haymarket site in Edinburgh is to receive £9 ...
The Court of Appeal has overturned existing rules in England and Wales about administrators’ liability to pay rents falling due before their appointment. The Court ruled that rent payable in advance will now be treated as an administration expense for the whole period of occupation of premises by administrators for the benefit of the administration. Game's administrators sold the assets of the group, including a number of the stores, which continued to trade ...
Business Rates has been a hot potato in the property industry for many years, no more so than in the retail sector. We are a nation of shoppers, yet the outdated system of rates valuation disincentivises investment in retail property and inhibits growth. The way in which we shop has changed, with the growth of online and multi-channel retailing, but the way in which retail businesses are taxed on their bricks and mortar has not ...
On January 31, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in A.I. Enterprises Ltd. v. Bram Enterprises Ltd., 2014 SCC 12. This is an important commercial decision as it clarifies and narrows the scope of the tort of unlawful interference in economic relations. Canadian businesses will also welcome the Court's reference to commercial certainty as one of the principal reasons to clarify and limit the scope of this tort ...
The new Act on Strategic Investment in Croatia has achieved its goal of reducing administrative procedures and ensuring the speedy realisation of strategic projects in Croatia. In order to declare a project “strategic,” it must meet several criteria. Foremost, the project must be in accordance with spatial planning regulations. Also, the total amount of capital expense must be HRK 150 million (approx. EUR 19.6 million) or more ...
When Shakespeare said we should kill all lawyers he was not referring to Magic Circle corporate or TMT partners, they had not been invented yet; and conveyancing and private client work were in their infancy. No, what he had in his sights were litigators and two hundred and fifty years later Dickens aimed his withering fire at the chancery lawyers in Bleak House ...
Reprinted with permission from the February 7, 2014 issue of Corporate Counsel. © 2014 ALM Media Properties, LLC. Further duplication without permission is prohibited. All rights reserved. On Nov. 12, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to grant a writ of certiorari in Cariou v. Prince, leaving intact the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on copyright fair use in the context of appropriation art ...
Many companies provide annual earnings guidance and quarterly updates to the analyst and investor communities. Guidance is also frequently updated during industry conferences and in nondeal roadshows. A failure to meet the market’s earnings expectations can negatively impact management’s credibility and, in turn, the price of the company’s common stock. The importance of earnings guidance is heightened during an equity offering when a company is actively soliciting investors ...
False labeling of products, fake or inferior materials and components used to make products, and the misappropriated use of another’s trademark are examples of how counterfeit goods and the theft of intellectual property are hurting consumers and companies. The world markets and global supply distribution chains provide opportunities for companies to grow and prosper. Sales through the Internet allow for products to be sold and sent to almost anywhere in the world ...
The Serbian Government has taken first steps of implementing a new court system with the passing of a new Law on Seats, Jurisdictions of Courts and Public Prosecution Offices (Official Gazette RS no. 101/2013), and amendments to the Law on Organisation of Courts (Official Gazette RS no. 116/2008, 104/2009, 101/2010, 31/2011, 78/2011 101/2011, 101/2013), which came into force on 1 January 2014 ...
The dispute resolution terms of engineering contracts can cause problems. An example is the recent case of Tubular Holdings (Pty) Ltd v DBT Technologies (Pty) Ltd, an unreported decision of South Gautend High Court. DBT Technologies - a subcontractor to Eskom in the Kusile Project 0 further contracted to Tubular Holdings in a deal worth some R 1.3 billion. Contract FIDIC's clause 20 governs the dispute resolution procedure. Clause 20 ...
Effective January 1, 2014, the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”) replaced its Amicable Dispute Resolution rules with new Mediation Rules. The new ICC Mediation Rules (the “Rules”) set clear parameters for mediating disputes, while also providing for additional flexible procedures that allow the parties to resolve their disputes privately and confidentially ...
A New York appellate court affirmed in Syracuse Univ. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co., CA 13-01056, (N.Y. Sup. Ct. App. Div. Dec. 27, 2013), that an insurer must pay the costs incurred by its policyholder to comply with subpoenas issued to the policyholder as part of a criminal investigation, even where formal charges are not filed ...
In Ass’n For Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., the Supreme Court held that "a naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated, but that cDNA is patent eligible because it is not naturally occurring." 133 S. Ct. 1207 (2013). Further, fragments that are "indistinguishable from natural DNA" are not statutory subject matter. Id., 2119 ...
On January 2, the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced its first civil enforcement action of 2014 — a consummated merger challenge and settlement resulting from Heraeus Electro-Nite’s (Heraeus’s) $42 million acquisition of Midwest Instrument Company Inc. (Minco). The enforcement action is the latest DOJ challenge to a merger not required to be reported to the US antitrust agencies under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act ...
