Archive for the ‘General’ Category

Is Your Intellectual Property Protected?

Today is World Intellectual Property Day and the global members of the World Intellectual Property Office have joined forces to help raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trade marks and designs affect everyday lives. This year’s theme is ‘Designing the Future’.

 
Innovators and creative minds across the country are being encouraged to protect their inventions and ideas to help design the future. Designs are about the way an object looks and developers can invest a lot of time and money into making sure their designs are fit for purpose.
 
Minister for Intellectual Property Baroness Wilcox said, “Designs touch almost every part of our day to day lives, from the chairs we sit on to the phones we use. Registering your design with the Intellectual Property Office can offer protection against unauthorised copies and imitations.
 
“We are keen to encourage businesses to get their designs protected to allow them to reap the potential financial rewards of their innovations. Many people are unaware that you can register a design for just £60, granting exclusive rights that are renewable for up to 25 years.
 
“Today is about raising awareness of the importance to businesses of protecting their innovative ideas. Investing in their creativity and ideas now can help shape growth and success in the future.”
 
Further information on World Intellectual Property Day can be found on the IPO website at www.ipo.gov.uk.
 
If you have an invention, trade mark, original design or the practical application of a good idea that you wish to protect, contact us.

Posted April 26th, 2011 in General |

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Supreme Court Next Stop in Legal Privilege Case

As expected, insurer the Prudential is to appeal to the Supreme Court following the Court of Appeal’s decision that communications with its tax advisers (a leading firm of accountants) relating to its tax planning were not professionally privileged.

 
Legal professional privilege is a doctrine that applies to communications between legal advisers and their clients and means that communications passing between them cannot normally be required to be used in evidence in court.
 
The Supreme Court granted leave of appeal to the Prudential on 14 April. The Prudential argues that it is unfair that only communications with its legal advisers are privileged, claiming that communications with other professional advisers advising on quasi-legal matters should also be privileged.
 
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales is backing the appeal.
 

Posted April 19th, 2011 in General |

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CFOs Less Optimistic

Chief financial officers (CFOs) are increasingly concerned that the UK may be headed for a ‘double-dip’ recession, according to a survey by accountants Deloitte.

 
The survey found that 29 per cent of CFOs predicted a double-dip and that optimism is at the lowest level in two years.
 
If you are concerned about difficulties with collecting debts, meeting your financial obligations, the availability of finance or protecting your business from trade risk we may be able to help.

Posted April 19th, 2011 in General |

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Protection from Unfair Selling Practices: The Law

Britain has, for years, had strong consumer protection laws and further protection for consumers from unfair selling practices was introduced in the 2008 Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations.

The UK regulations, implementing the EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, prohibit various unsavoury practices. These include high-pressure selling, unfair or misleading advertising and so on. It applies only to business dealings with consumers, not dealings with other businesses, and the unfair practices it prohibits include acts of omission as well as acts of commission. It bans acts which may ‘materially distort’ the behaviour of the average consumer or consumers in relation to a product or products.

The definition of an ‘average consumer’ leaves much scope for future argument, as does the concept of what might materially distort one’s behaviour. However, a series of practices are specifically prohibited, including the following:
  • running a promotion or prize draw in which no prizes are awarded;
  • advertising aimed at children which attempts to get them to persuade their parents or other adults to buy something;
  • refusing to leave someone’s house when asked (a common ‘high-pressure’ sales technique);
  • persistently soliciting for business by fax, telephone, email etc.; or
  • falsely stating that the product will be available only for a limited period of time.
If you have bought something after being pressured to do so or the product has not met the claims made for it, you may be protected by consumer law. Take advice quickly. In some cases, the right to cancel an agreement (for example timeshare and insurance purchases) is only available for a limited period of time.

Posted April 15th, 2011 in General |

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Bridge is Sport –Official

Hitchin bridge club has successfully registered itself as a charity under the Charities Act. The application was successful after the Charity Commission accepted that sitting down for a few rubbers of the world’s most popular card game was a game of mental skill and exertion which qualifies as a sport under the legislation.

 
The Charity Commission considered that it met the criteria because of:
 
  • The level and degree of mental skill and exertion required;
  • The potential health benefits from the exercise of the mental skill and exertion; and
  • The public benefit conferred.
 
The club had produced evidence that bridge has beneficial effects as regards dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
 
If you wish to set up a charitable organisation, we can advise you of the legal requirements and your legal  obligations.

Posted April 14th, 2011 in General |

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Problems of Insolvent Landlords

Retail to letIt is not only tenants that go broke: increasingly, overstretched landlords are becoming insolvent.

 
If you are a commercial tenant coming up for a rent review, it makes sense to do some investigation into your landlord’s finances and to make sure that you protect your position if necessary.
 
If you have paid a rent deposit and it is not legally separate from the landlord’s other assets, it may be lost if the landlord becomes insolvent. Check your lease. It may be possible to persuade your landlord to refund the deposit or agree to vary the lease to allow the deposit to be protected.
 
If the landlord fails to comply with its covenants it is possible that the breach may be sufficiently serious to allow you to repudiate the lease.
 
However, one of the most common problems arises where the insolvent landlord is itself a tenant and defaults on its covenants with the head landlord. If this results in the forfeiture of the landlord’s lease, this could lead to the loss of the right to occupy the premises.
 
If you have concerns about what your position would be in the even of the insolvency of your landlord, we can advise you and assist in any necessary negotiations.

Posted April 13th, 2011 in General |

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Pension Provision Shortfall Continue

A recent poll shows that less than half of a sample of people who commute into London  save money by way of a pension.

 
One in five of the sample did not believe that pensions are a safe investment and one in seven believe that pensions are an inflexible form of saving.
 
With the state pension age set to keep creeping up and up as life expectancy increases (it moves to 66 in 2020), there is little sign that the yawning gap in the pension provision of many people is likely to be met, leaving millions facing greatly reduced living standards in old age.

Posted April 12th, 2011 in General |

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The Protection of Freedoms Bill – ‘A Return to Common Sense Government

Video Surveillance NoticeThe Coalition Government has published the Protection of Freedoms Bill 2010/2011, which contains a wide range of measures aimed at ending the unnecessary scrutiny of law-abiding individuals.
 
If enacted, the Bill will result in:
 
  • a radical reform of the vetting and barring scheme that will see a large reduction in the number of individuals requiring checks to just those who work most closely with children and vulnerable adults;
  • DNA samples and fingerprints of innocent people being deleted from police databases;
  • an end to town hall snoopers checking householders’ rubbish bins or school catchment area;
  • the scrapping of Section 44 powers, which have been used to stop and search hundreds of thousands of innocent people;
  • the permanent reduction of the maximum period of pre-charge detention for terrorist suspects to 14 days;
  • gay men being able to clear their name with the removal of out-of-date convictions for consensual acts; and
  • thousands of motorists protected from rogue wheel clamping firms.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who has been instrumental in shaping the contents of the Bill said, “The Freedoms Bill will protect millions of people from state intrusion in their private lives and mark a return to common sense government.”
Other measures included in the Bill include:
  • an end to the fingerprinting of children in schools without parental consent;
  • the introduction of a code of practice for CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition systems;
  • restrictions on the powers of government departments, local authorities and other public bodies to enter private homes and other premises for investigations and a requirement for all to examine and slim down remaining powers;
  • the repeal of powers to hold serious and complex fraud trials without a jury;
  • the liberalisation of marriage laws to allow people to marry outside the hours of 8am-6pm; and
  • the extension of the scope of the Freedom of Information Act and strengthening the public rights to data.
The Government’s aim is that the Bill will be enacted by late 2011 or early 2012.

Posted April 8th, 2011 in General |

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New Rules on Sunbed Use Come into Force

The Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010, which was introduced in Parliament as a Private Member’s Bill, came into force on 8 April 2011.

 
Regulation was anticipated after a 2009 study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer reported a clear link between the use of sunbeds and skin cancer, with people who began using UV-emitting tanning devices before the age of 30 found to be up to 70 per cent more likely to develop melanoma and other forms of skin cancer. This finding prompted a number of local authorities to remove sunbeds from leisure centres.
 
Under the Act, it is an offence for sunbed business operators to allow people in England and Wales under age 18 to use their tanning machines. The use of sunbeds by children is only allowed if it is necessary in order to treat a medical condition and takes place under the supervision or direction of a registered medical practitioner.
 
The Act also allows for more stringent restrictions to be implemented, including the power to require any person who carries on a sunbed business to provide customers with information on the health risks associated with sunbed use and to impose a duty on operators to ensure that protective eyewear is made available and is worn by users.
 
The Welsh Assembly has announced its intention to make full use of the powers available to it under the Act and will introduce further measures, from 31 October 2011, which will include a ban in Wales on the unsupervised use of sunbeds.

Posted April 7th, 2011 in General |

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Bribery Act new guidance

How will the Bribery Act effect your business ?
The Government has published updated guidance for business on the Bribery Act. As many will know, the Act was due to be implemented in April but many businesses of all kinds advised the Government that the guidance was very unclear and the implications draconian. Therefore the Act was delayed to allow time for a rethink and new guidance has now been published with the Act now coming into force on 1 July 2011.
Notwithstanding the updated guidance, the law remains unchanged and it will be an offence for a commercial organisation to fail to prevent bribery. However, a business has a full defence by showing that it had in place adequate procedures and that risks were considered on a particular matter. Of particular importance to small business, unlike the previous guidance, the new guidance makes clear that a small business is not expected to have the same approach to such matters as a very large business, and small business really should adopt a common sense approach. Proprotionality is a key concept, together with an assessment of the countries and markets a business will be trading with and in.
The new guidance contains some helpful case studies indicating the approach a business may take in certain situations.
The final guidance can be found here. See also the ‘quick start guide’ to the Act.

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Posted April 1st, 2011 in General |

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