Article PDF Practical Insights Five Points to Negotiate in a 'Black Box' Product Development Agreement What is a “black box” product development agreement? How do you protect your product idea? What intellectual property can a Manufacturer expect to own? Can a Manufacturer limit a Processor’s right to work for others? What about co-manufacturing agreements? What is a “black box” product development agreement? A food
Shoosmiths’ mobility head, Jonathan Smart, was a speaker at the SMMT International Automotive Summit 2023, hosted in London. Jonathan moderated a panel discussion focused on the competitive challenges facing the UK’s automotive manufacturing sector. The summit was aimed at addressing the challenges facing the automotive sector, including building resiliency, international collaboration, unlocking potential, competitiveness and innovation ...
In case you missed it, there was an interesting piece in the January/February issue of Transaction Trends, the Electronic Transactions Association’s official publication. I highly recommend it, as it was a good look ahead. The feature, “Putting the ‘L’ in M-Commerce” was an interview with several prominent industry executives about loyalty cards and programs. Today, however, loyalty card programs are fragmented, to put it politely ...
The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the food industry, just as it has many others. The good news is that food-to-person transmission of the disease does not seem to be a risk. The challenge remains keeping workers safe from airborne and surface transmission. However, the FDA and the USDA have provided guidance and recommendations to food producers to deal with COVID-19, links to which have been provided below. The guidance focuses on stopping the person-to-person spread of the disease ...
The establishment by the Scottish Government of a food security task force is a necessary and timely response to the war in Ukraine. In addition to the harrowing humanitarian crisis, the conflict has prompted significant concern among food producers. The UK food sector and consumers are currently facing a perfect storm just as we begin to emerge from the pandemic ...
The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic is upending regular commercial activity across the United States and around the world, and that disruption is expected to escalate. Among the issues confronting our clients, the effect of public health orders and other measures to address COVID-19 is threatening, impacting, and in some cases, outright prohibiting the performance of material contractual obligations ...
The Supreme Court of Appeal recently handed down a rare trade mark judgment. The protagonists were Adidas and Pepkor, and the main issue was whether Pepkor had infringed certain trade mark registrations belonging to Adidas for its famous three-stripe mark. Adidas was founded by a German called Adi Dassler in 1920 ...
The Court of Appeal of Quebec has issued an important judgment pertaining to a franchisor’s implicit obligations towards its franchisees. In June 2012, the Superior Court of Quebec ordered Dunkin’ Donuts Brands Canada Ltd. (“Dunkin’ Donuts”) to pay an amount of $16.4M (plus interests and costs) to 21 of its franchisees in Quebec the sum of $16 ...
The rise of e-commerce and the struggle many brick-and-mortar retail stores face is nothing new. Customers are increasingly choosing to shop for clothes, furniture and even groceries from the convenience of their own homes. More recently, however, this shift in the way consumers shop has given rise to new types of retail stores – small showrooms and “pop-up shops ...
Over the last few years, news that some of the nation's most iconic retail stores have closed has become more frequent. Yesterday, Poundworld entered administration. Last week, House of Fraser announced it would be closing 31 stores, many of which are in some the UK's largest cities. It is no secret that many retailers have been adversely affected by the shopping habits of consumers, ever since the advent of a new pastime - buying online ...
One of the most common questions I receive from clients is around the termination of leases, with confusion reigning around the terminology and procedures used in Scotland. It is not surprising that when given a remit to consider the law of commercial leases, the Scottish Law Commission (SLC) first turned its attention to the law relating to the termination of leases at expiry. In October 2022, following consultations, the SLC published its Report on Aspects of Leases: Termination ...
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is seeking views on potential approaches to precautionary allergen labelling for prepacked and non-prepacked foods. This consultation follows new rules that came into force in relation to allergen labelling on prepacked for direct sale foods last year (see our article about Natasha’s Law here) and will consider how precautionary allergen labelling can be communicated more clearly and consistently to consumers ...
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched a campaign highlighting the risks of food labelled as vegan to people with allergies. Research from the FSA has shown that 62% of consumers with an animal-based allergy were confident that products labelled as ‘vegan’ were safe to eat. The FSA says this confidence is incorrect and is putting people at risk ...
The government are set to introduce new measures on High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS) food including restrictions on volume offers and new rules on placement and promotion. What is a HFSS food? HFSS foods are food or soft drink products that are assessed as high in fat, salt or sugar in accordance with the Department of Health nutrient profiling model. Foods scoring 4 or more points and drinks scoring 1 or more are classified as HFSS ...
The present government is looking to the mining industry to aid in the country’s economic recovery. Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno has stated that the Marcos administration seeks to create an enabling environment for the growth of the mining industry while adhering to responsible and sustainable mining practices ...
In early March, Georgia's Access to Medical Cannabis Commission finally adopted rules governing the state's low-THC oil industry. As businesses navigate this new landscape, legal questions will inevitably pop up. And lawyers, being trained to answer them, will want to address their clients' questions. But a ruling from the Georgia Supreme Court means that Georgia lawyers generally cannot ethically advise participants in this new program ...
A recent data protection fine highlights the risks of getting a few key things wrong. Fines for large data security breaches always grab press attention, however a recent €600,000 fine from the French data protection regulator (the CNIL) brings into sharp focus the risks for businesses when they get a few key things wrong without any catastrophic failures amongst them ...
Lawyers are often criticised for using overly complex legal and technical wording in contracts. The purpose of a contract is, amongst other things, to clearly set out the rights and obligations of the contracting parties, and to limit uncertainty during the particular project. To this end, it is important to use plain English in contract drafting and as a general rule, to use short sentences, defined terms and a clear and logical structure ...
On 14 February 2014 the South African Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) gave notice of its intention to prohibit the use of a large number of European food and drinks names in terms of section 15 of the Merchandise Marks Act (MMA) - confusingly the notice also makes reference to section 13 of the MMA, a section that no longer exists ...
Getting the Deal Through – Shipbuilding is part of the series of Getting the Deal Through law guides published by Law Business Research that provide an overview of specialist areas of the law in a variety of international jurisdictions. It is published annually and the seventh edition, covers 13 jurisdictions. Leading practitioners from each jurisdiction answer the same key questions ...
