Following the successful uptake of a similar initiative in 2022, the European Commission has re-launched its fund to support small and medium enterprises (“SMEs”) in safeguarding their intellectual property assets ...
With greater emphasis being placed on employee wellbeing in recent times and in a bid to remain competitive in the market, some employers have sought to increase holiday entitlement and provide ‘unlimited’ annual leave each year. What does this mean? In theory, ‘unlimited’ holiday means employees can take as many paid days off work as they wish. In practice, however, it is not quite as straightforward as it sounds ...
Commentators have argued that the effect of this legislation is to force employers to recognise trade unions against their will as there appears to have been a move away from the traditional voluntarist approach to negotiations with trade unions towards a compulsory approach ...
In a recent case, a unilateral termination clause in the relevant contract had no bearing on whether termination via agreement between the parties was available, and the court held that novation of the contract by the conduct of the parties was valid ...
On June 17, 2008, the Supreme Court of Lithuania rendered a decision restricting the rights of the trademark owner to revoke his consent to use a trademark as a company name. In UAB Solvex Baltic v. UAB Scandihouse (Case No 3K-3-335/2008 (S)), the owner of the trademark SCANDIHOUSE petitioned the defendant to change its company name ...
The Unified Patent Court (the “UPC”), which will have jurisdiction over most European patents, is due to commence operations at some point between the final quarter of 2022 and early 2023. It has been a long time coming and is part of the ‘Unitary Patent Package’. The aim of this package is to establish unitary patent protection within Europe, and to make it cheaper and easier for patentees to obtain and enforce patents ...
The Russian Federation, the Kazakhstan Republic and the Belarus Republic (hereinafter also referred to as the “Member States”) have formed Customs Union in accordance with the Treaty on Creation of Unified Customs Territory and Formation of Customs Union (Dushanbe, October 6, 2007) ...
Where a legacy under a will is left to a party that does not appear to exist, or at least cannot be identified, this can intensify what is an already traumatic experience for the deceased’s loved ones. When this happens, who should receive the legacy? In the recent petition by Vindex Trustees Limited [2021] CSIH 46, the Inner House of the Court of Session declined to provide directions on this question ...
Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht; BAG) dated January 23, 2019 – 7 AZR 733/16 The unfounded limitation of the term of an employment contract, when an employee is employed again by the same employer, is only permissible when and if the application of the prohibition of unfounded fixed-term employment under Sec. 14(2) s. 2 Part-Time and Fixed-Term Employment Law (Teilzeit- und Befristungsgesetz; TzBfG) would be unreasonable for the parties ...
In a recent case by the Swedish Supreme Court (Sw. Högsta domstolen) (T 4904-08), the burden of proof of payments made by the debtor in relation to a negotiable promissory note was placed on the creditor.Since the borrowers had not confirmed that the debt had not been paid, the transferees were not in good faith in relation to the payment of the debt ...
International companies can now breathe a sigh of relief following the Court of Appeal’s decision in Serco – v- Lawson which considered the vexed issue of whether Employment Tribunals can hear claims of unfair dismissal notwithstanding the fact that the employee might not work in Great Britain. Section 196 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 used to prevent employees ordinarily working outside Great Britain from complaining of unfair dismissal to an Employment Tribunal ...
Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market and amending Council Directive 84/450/EEC, Directives 97/7/EC, 98/27/EC and 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ [2005] L 149) – hereinafter the “Directive” The Directive is aimed at approximation of laws of the Member States regul
If you have checked your licences overnight you may have seen the unexpected news from UK Visas and Immigration. They have published a notification on the landing page of the Sponsor Management System (on 24 January 2024) informing sponsors that they are removing the requirement to renew a sponsor licence. This impacts sponsors whose licence was due to expire on or after 6 April 2024. Those whose licence expires before this date will need to renew as usual ...
The right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union official at disciplinary and grievance hearings is likely to be a familiar concept to employers. Here we discuss the nuances of that right and what could happen if there is a breach. What are the worker’s rights? The statutory right to be accompanied is set out in the Employment Relations Act 1999. The right is not limited to employees and applies irrespective of length of service ...
The Public Service Vehicles (Accessible Information) Regulations 2023 (the “Regulations”) implement certain basic informational requirements that bus operators of local services need to implement in their vehicles in order to improve the accessibility of information for passengers on local bus services ...
At the same time, the effective rate of tax on dividends for high earners will rise from 25% to 36%. No changes are currently proposed to the rate of capital gains tax which means it will remain at 18%. However, both main parties have now admitted that further tax increases are likely. With the gap between income tax and capital gains being a massive 32%, it seems unlikely that the current generous rate of capital gains tax will remain in place ...
2022 was a record year for the UK’s living sector. Investment into the sector exceeded £10bn in Q3, fuelled by growth across build to rent, student accommodation and healthcare. While the data for Q4 is yet to be revealed, JLL predicts that the total investment for the year could surpass the £13.8bn recorded in 2021 ...
A successful appeal against a remediation notice has highlighted the difficulties faced by local authorities when trying to secure the remediation of contaminated land. The appeal is only the second appeal to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (SoS) since the contaminated land regime in Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 was implemented in 2000 ...
1. Background and Issue Labour representation at board level is a well-established part of the German corporate governance system. According to the German Co-Determination Act, a corporation with more than 2,000 employees has to establish a co-determined supervisory board composed of an equal number of shareholders’ and employees’ representatives ...
The Energy Law is to permit industrial users to obtain certificates of origin and present them for redemption for only a portion of the electricity they purchase. But the future of this support mechanism has been called into question. The rule introduced by the 26 July 2013 act amending Poland’s Energy Law limits the obligation imposed on industrial users to support the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES) and high-efficiency cogeneration (CHP) ...
A summary of the visa concessions open to Ukrainian nationals and their family members. The UK’s initial response to help Ukrainian citizens affected by the Russian military invasion was somewhat underwhelming, limiting the aid offered to immediate family members of British citizens and offering concessions for Ukrainian citizens already in the UK. Now the Home Secretary has announced a second phase of support measures available to those fleeing the conflict ...
On 30 March 2020, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted the Law "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts Aimed to Ensure Additional Social and Economic Guarantees Due to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-2019) Spread" (the Law), which introduces to the Ukrainian legislative environment new complex rules aimed at minimizing the negative impact of the spread of the COVID-19 in Ukraine. The below summary focuses on key changes introduced by the Law ...
Corporate law issues in Ukraine are mainly regulated by the 1991 Enterprises Act, 1991 Companies Act, 1991 Ownership Act, 1991 Securities and Stock Exchange Act, and 1996 State Regulation of the Stock Market in Ukraine Act. As we can see, the majority of Acts laying down the basic concepts and principles of Ukrainian corporate law date back to 1991, when Ukraine gained its independence ...
The government have introduced various visa concessions for Ukrainian citizens affected by the conflict. Legal director of immigration, Rachel Harvey and Pavan Sumal, associate specialising in immigration law discuss the routes available and what you can do to assist. In country options Concessions are available for those who were in the UK at the start of the conflict ...
Ukraine is an EU candidate: Can we soon file patent applications for Ukraine at the European Patent Office? The European Council granted Ukraine EU candidate status on 23 June 2022. Will patents granted by the European Patent Office soon also apply in Ukraine? Not immediately, because on the one hand the candidate status legally creates neither rights nor obligations ...
