Is Tesco exploiting Lidl’s reputation as a discount or ‘value’ supermarket? This is what Lidl are alleging in the most recent supermarket trademark dispute. The question being put before the Court is essentially whether Tesco’s ‘Clubcard Prices’ logo infringes on Lidl’s brand logo, as both appear as text in a yellow circle on a blue background ...
An analyst estimates that the market value in 2023 for digital advertising will be US$701 billion. The EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a legislative competition law 'key' to 'unlocking' the big-data relating to digital advertising held in the ‘safe’ owned by BigTech. Advertising agencies are potentially one class of beneficiary (see link for article - The Digital Markets Act - Strategy reboot for online advertising) ...
Why is green hydrogen important and what is its role in energy transition? The UK’s first official Hydrogen Week takes centre stage this week, bringing together stakeholders across the UK to celebrate and promote the role of hydrogen in reaching net zero (NZ) ...
CyWee Grp. Ltd. v. Google LLC, Appeal No. 20-1565 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 8, 2023) In its only precedential patent case this week, the Federal Circuit addressed last gasp efforts by CyWee to salvage its IPR losses to Google. The arguments, residual Appointments Clause arguments following Supreme Court and Federal Circuit opinions in Arthrex, Inc. v. Smith & Nephew, were rejected by the Court, which affirmed. In June 2018, Google filed petitions for IPR. The Board instituted the IPRs ...
February 13, 2023 By: Melissa Richards Superintendent of Financial Services Adrienne A. Harris announced on February 1, 2023 that the New York State Department of Financial Services has adopted a final regulation?relating to early disclosure requirements on commercial financing offers equal to or less than $2,500,000, pursuant to sections 801 to 811 of the New York Financial Services Law (the “Commercial Finance Disclosure Law” or “CFDL”) ...
The Supreme Court has this week (8 February 2023) handed down a judgment considering whether landlords have management discretion to vary service charge percentages in residential leases. S.27A(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (the Act) gives the First-tier Tribunal (FtT) the ability on application to make various decisions about service charges in residential dwellings, including whether it is payable or not ...
February 9, 2023 By: Michael Flynn According to a Chicago federal district court, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act’s loan discrimination provisions to not extend to alleged discrimination against prospective applicants. Relying on the express language of the ECOA statute, this ruling rejected a decades-old Regulation B rule that stated that ECOA did apply to conduct toward prospective applicants ...
Summary Main dispute resolution methods Court litigation Limitation periods Court structure Rights of audience Rights of audience/requirements Foreign lawyers Fees and funding Funding Insurance Court proceedings Confidentiality Pre-action conduct Main stages Starting proceedings Notice to the defendant and defence Subsequent stages Interim remedies Strike out Summary judgment Other circumstances Availability and grounds Prior not
On 23 December 2022, the Brussels Court of Appeal (“Market Court”) rejected Carrefour Belgium’s application for the suspension of the Belgian Competition Authority’s (“BCA”) decision of 9 November 2022 authorising the concentration between Intermarché AB (“ITM”) and Mestdagh ...
Underpinning the litigation anticipated to follow the COVID-19 Inquiry is the feeling that it is still too early for claims on key matters to be issued. A recent theme of claimant firms has been to agree deadlines with counterparties where limitation issues arise, or to put counterparties on notice of claims but wait for evidence to be given to the Inquiry and any findings before taking claims forward ...
The Register of Controlled Interests in Land (RCI) opened in Scotland on 1 April 2022. As we reported last year, the main aim of the RCI Regulations[1] is to increase public transparency around individuals who have significant control over decision-making in relation to land or a registrable lease, but crucially who do not appear on the Land Register or Sasine Register ...
With the impact of climate change increasingly evident, it is no wonder that many consumers are endeavouring to make more environmentally conscious decisions in their day-to-day lives. Consumers’ focus to become more environmentally friendly often centralises around changes to their purchases of small, everyday goods such as food, toiletries and other household essentials ...
As an employer, how do you support your employees who are going through a divorce or separation? Lots of employers (including household names such as Asda, Tesco and Unilever) are working with Positive Parenting Alliance (PPA) to ensure that they have more family-friendly employee policies in place for employees going through divorce or separation ...
The Financial Market Commission ("CMF"), as part of the implementation process of Law No. 21,521 ("Fintech Law"), on February 3, 2023 published General Rule No. 493 ("NCG 493"), which establishes the procedure and requirements to apply for registration in the Registry of Financial Service Providers (Registro de Prestadores de Servicios Financieros, the "Registry"), created by the Fintech Law ...
In re: Google LLC, Appeal No. 2023-101 (Fed. Cir. 2023) In the Federal Circuit’s only precedential patent opinion this week, the Court granted mandamus reversing yet another decision by Western District of Texas Judge Alan D. Albright refusing to transfer a patent case out of his court, which (like several of Judge Albright’s prior decisions) denied transfer to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ...
Pensions analysis: The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has issued its levy rules and associated guidance and appendices for the 2023–24 levy year. Suzanne Burrell, Partner at Shoosmiths, examines the latest rules and guidance, the changes made since last year, the implications for pension schemes and what happens next. What is the background to the PPF’s consultation on the 2023/24 levy rules? The PPF’s consultation ran during the autumn of 2022 ...
In a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) release, HMRC announced that it has nine live corporate criminal offence investigations, with a further 26 live opportunities currently under review. The investigations span 11 different business sectors, including software providers, labour provision, accountancy and legal services and transport. No charging decisions have yet been made ...
Fleur Turrington, Jennifer Clarke & Aimee Cook work through the pros & cons of the Procurement Bill ...
In the decision Beijing Judian Restaurant Co. Ltd. v. Wei Meng, 2022 FC 743, rendered by the Honourable Angela Furlanetto on May 18, 2022, the Federal Court clarified what constitutes bad faith in trademark law. Prior to the decision, the concept of bad faith in relation to trademarks was interpreted rather cautiously in Canadian jurisprudence. Background Beijing Judian Restaurant Co. Ltd ...
February 2, 2023 By: Manuel Fishman In what may turn out to be a lesson on the limits of the application of equitable doctrines supporting rent relief in the face of good lease drafting, a California court of appeal panel in San Diego has taken a narrow view on the application of the doctrines of quiet enjoyment, frustration of purpose, impracticability and impossibility as a defense to the payment of rent under a lease following State and local closure orders issued in response to the COVID 1
