There is to be a new Unitary Patent providing protection across 25 countries in the European Union. The move is designed to help European firms protect themselves against the growing problem of copyright piracy. One of the difficulties at the moment is that there is no single patent covering the whole of Europe. Firms have
A director has been found guilty of wrongful trading after taking money for services his company could not provide. The director was the sole shareholder of a company that tried to provide a DX mailing service. He allowed an employee to market the business and take advance payments from customers who entered into contracts for
A new law has come into effect which should make it easier and less daunting for small and medium sized businesses to protect their patent and design rights. There have been examples in the past of firms being unwilling to protect their rights because of uncertainty over how much it would cost. The Patents County
A recent case in the High Court has highlighted the need for firms to keep a tight control on who signs contracts on their behalf. It involved a recycling firm which found itself tied into a hire contract for three years when it thought the arrangement was only on a month by month basis. The
The number of businesses in the UK has been growing despite the economic downturn. That’s the picture that emerges from figures released by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The latest statistics show that the total number of businesses rose by 48,000 to 4.5m between the start of 2009 and the start of
A company must repay £200,000 after failing to carry out work to a high enough standard on a property it was selling. The company had entered into a contract with a buyer which required that a number of renovation and conversion works should be carried out before completion. The buyer paid a £100,000 deposit followed
A new regulation requiring businesses to get permission from consumers before placing cookies on their computers has now come into force. The EU Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive applies to cookies or any piece of code that enables you to store information about consumers such as their shopping habits. It came into effect on 26th
Great care is needed when drawing up restrictive covenants; if they are not tight enough they may not be effective, but if they are too restrictive the courts may not enforce them. A recent case gives a good insight into how the courts may view certain anti-competition clauses. It involved an estate agency and one
The moratorium on new employment laws for small firms has now come into effect but business groups say that EU regulations will remain a major burden. The moratorium was announced in the Budget and covers start-up businesses and small firms with fewer than 10 employees. HMRC is defining a start-up firm as a business that
Tesco has been fined £48,000 for risking the safety of some of its staff. The company admitted that in 2009 it had failed to provide a safe working system relating to the loading and unloading of vehicles at its store at Warfield near Bracknell Forest in Berkshire. It had also failed to provide information, instruction,