End-user component meaning

In this issue: Residential property Insurance Transferring property Property in Scotland LexTalk®Property: a Lexis®Nexis community Additional property updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts Trackers New Q&As Residential property Undue influence—test in ‘hybrid’ cases In One Savings Bank Plc v Waller-Edwards [2024] EWCA Civ 302, the Court of Appeal, Civil Division, rejected the defendant’s appeal to resist the bank’s possession claim. She maintained the lender should have been alerted to undue influence when she and her former partner obtained a loan partly for their mutual non-commercial aims and partly for the partner’s benefit alone. The defendant suggested the proper test was that a lender is put on inquiry unless the aspect conferring a sole benefit on one borrower is insignificant. The Court concluded that test was incorrect, and that Royal Bank of Scotland v Etridge (Etridge) governs, to be applied to the facts as found by the trial judge. Etridge did not stipulate...

Advocate General Maciej Szpunar advised the Court of Justice that, although the look of such designs might appear a marginal consideration because functionality dominates, EU judges ought to assess the ‘degree of freedom’ open to a designer when deciding if modest visual distinctions between designs suffice to create a different overall impression for the informed user. The dispute arises from an infringement action brought in Hungary by Danish toy maker Lego A/S, which claims a local business attempted to import construction sets violating one of Lego’s registered designs. The design at issue concerns a toy-building ‘coupling component’ described in court papers as a cylinder with studs together with two axles of cross-section profile. The Budapest High Court rejected Lego’s request to seize the sets, concluding that the design’s ‘creative scope’ was extremely narrow because the shape was wholly determined by its technical function. In that view, appearance played a subordinate role to technical necessity within this context...

What is the UK CBAM? The UK CBAM is a forthcoming charge, scheduled by the UK government for implementation on 1 January 2027, applied to the carbon both released and embedded in imports into the UK of specified ‘products’ (set out by a list of commodity codes) whose production is highly carbon‑emission intensive. In this context, ‘products’ are goods, articles or substances manufactured or refined for sale. Products can be raw materials, energy (such as electricity or heat), component parts, or finished goods. Certain products brought into the UK from countries with a lower, or no, ‘carbon price’ will be required to pay the charge. The liability imposed by the UK CBAM will depend on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity embodied in the imported products and the gap between the carbon price applied in the country of origin (if any) and the carbon price that would have been applied had the products been produced in the UK. Embodied emissions are the GHG emissions linked to the manufacture of...

Where a employee may have prospective claims against the employer under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) or other employment legislation, or might otherwise pursue a breach of contract claim, the parties can conclude a settlement agreement to terminate the employment on the terms specified in that document (although, on a limited number of occasions under employment law, certain claims cannot be compromised by a settlement agreement). Senior managers/shareholders can likewise execute settlement agreements if they depart when the employing business is sold. For a model settlement agreement (with drafting notes), see Precedents: Settlement agreement (employment) or Settlement agreement (employment) (short form). By agreeing a settlement, the employer gains assurance that the employee will not bring a future claim against the employer. Among other matters, the settlement agreement will address all sums and benefits due, or agreed, to be paid to the employee, and will record the terms on which employment is brought to an end...

Background to semiconductors A semiconductor is, at its core, a material with electrical conductivity that can permit or, alternatively, obstruct the passage of electric current. Chips based on semiconductors—seen in devices such as computers, mobile phones and microwave ovens—are typically produced from circular silicon wafers. Intellectual property rights operate to safeguard the semiconductor sector, encompassing electronic circuit boards and the component chips. Semiconductor topography rights The semiconductor topography right sits alongside unregistered design law and is aimed at protecting a particular industrial article, namely, as noted above, the electronic circuit board and the layout of semiconductors. This right entered UK law through the Design Right (Semiconductor Topographies) Regulations 1989, SI 1989/1100, which implemented European Directive 87/54/EC and now form assimilated law as EU‑derived domestic legislation. Assimilated law is the term applied to retained EU law (REUL) that continues in force after the end of 2023. The shift from REUL (and related expressions) to assimilated law denotes a change in its status and treatment within UK law, in...