Legal News

Renewable energy award cases at the DC Circuit The DC Circuit is presently considering three high-stakes appeals seeking a determination on whether arbitral awards worth hundreds of millions of euros against Spain can be enforced in the US, a move that could place the US judiciary at odds with European courts. The court of appeals will examine enforceability even though Europe’s highest court has found the arbitration clause in the Energy Charter Treaty to be invalid. The DC Circuit’s ruling will influence not only these awards, but also more than a dozen additional awards against Spain, as well as any other past and potential future arbitral awards granted to EU investors against EU Member States. In these matters, Dutch subsidiaries of US-based Next Era Energy Inc, Luxembourg-based 9REN Holding SARL and Blasket Renewable Investments LLC are urging the appeals court to enforce their awards...

Getty Images ( US) Inc and other companies v Stability Al Ltd [2023] EWHC 3090 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? General litigators will find here a clear illustration of the hurdles in obtaining summary judgment or a strike out where a claim rests only on inference. Getty pleaded primary copyright and database infringement on the footing that relevant UK acts could be inferred because Stability’s development team includes a substantial cohort of people living and working in the UK. Both parties put forward material for the hearing. Getty identified social media posts and You Tube videos consistent with the alleged conduct in the UK; Stability served seven witness statements, but these did not comprehensively set out the role of each UK-based team member or the computer systems they could use. The judge concluded there was: material arguably...

Rwanda has joined the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of, as announced by the United Nations ( UN) itself...

Ever since 1958, when physicist William Higinbotham unveiled what is widely considered the first video game, the industry’s landscape has been transformed, with successive waves of ground-breaking technology continually reshaping how we interact with the medium. The latest—and arguably most consequential—shift is the adoption of AI technologies within gaming. From livelier, more reactive non-player characters ( NPCs) to procedural generation and heightened immersion, AI is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of contemporary gaming. This piece examines current AI applications in gaming, considers where the technology might head next, and outlines key legal and commercial issues that accompany it. In this article, we set out the state of play, its prospective trajectory, and the principal legal and commercial considerations that arise. The size of the gaming industry As development technology has moved forward, the industry has grown in lockstep. As noted above,...

English court orders crypto exchange to transfer assets into England and Wales to facilitate enforcement of judgment ( Joseph Keen Shing Law v Persons Unknown & Huobi Global Limited) Joseph Keen Shing Law v Persons unknown and Huobi Global Limited [2023] Lexis Citation 820 What is the impact of the decision? Huobi did not agree to the order, nor did it challenge it. The court concluded that exceptional circumstances justified granting the relief: although the exchange was assisting the claimant to stop the other defendants (who had defrauded the claimant) from accessing their accounts, the position could shift to the claimant’s disadvantage, and the court would have no control over Huobi because it is based outside England and Wales. This ruling (handed down in January but only recently released) predates Piroozzadeh v Persons Unknown and others [2023] EWHC 1024 ( Ch), where the High Court set aside an...

The pioneering role of the gaming industry Virtual goods and digital assets now originate, are bought and exchanged entirely online. They commonly mirror real-world products and services—virtually any item or offering found offline can be conceived in a digital guise. Unlike physical counterparts, however, a virtual item can be upgraded, altered and enriched with fresh functionality. Within gaming, such goods have long appeared as in‑game items: skins, outfits, accessories, gear and weapons for avatars. With blockchain, these assets can be made unique and their allocation or ownership recorded transparently, preventing double sales, enabling trading beyond a single game’s closed economy, and streamlining monetisation by tracking royalties on secondary transactions. Studios are already committing serious resources to tokenised assets. In up‑and‑coming worlds like Decentraland and The Sandbox, players can purchase, sell and develop parcels of virtual land with digital buildings. Ubisoft is rolling out NFTs in its...

Ukraine conflict—impact of Russian invasion and sanctions on English law contracts—frustration, illegality, force majeure & MAC Does your agreement contain an illegality, force majeure or material adverse change ( MAC) provision and, if so, has it been engaged? This turns on construction, so the orthodox approach applies—scrutinise the pertinent circumstances and the wording of the provision. What, precisely, is the operative occurrence? It might be a legal development (eg whether making payment would constitute a criminal offence) or a factual situation (routes are blocked, power is unavailable, the plant has been hit). Does that occurrence fall within the clause’s reach, expressly or by necessary implication? Many force majeure provisions enumerate events that qualify. An illegality provision may identify the system of law under which performance must have become unlawful. MAC provisions frequently do not delineate what is covered, relying instead on the plain sense of the...

Why did you set up the Arbitration in Finance project, and what do you hope to achieve? KPB: The initiative unites the Institute for Banking Law with the University of Cologne’s Centre for Transnational Law. We set out to assess the potential of alternative dispute resolution ( ADR) — in particular arbitration and mediation — to secure more time- and cost‑efficient outcomes in business‑to‑business conflicts within banking and finance. We also aim to deepen market understanding of arbitration’s benefits, especially as financial markets and products become ever more complex and sophisticated... Why is arbitration a good solution for solving disputes in the financial services sector? KPB: Banks and other financial institutions have traditionally been cautious about adopting arbitration and related ADR mechanisms. However, many of the grounds for that caution no longer hold true. This is evidenced, for example, by the 2016 Report on...

Maeda Kensetsu Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (aka Maeda Corporation) v Bauer Hong Kong Ltd [2020] HKA 830 What are the practical implications of this case? The Hong Kong Court of First Instance’s ruling drew attention because the contested notification requirement mirrored provisions in the FIDIC 2017 suite. In particular, clause 20.2.4 of the Red, Yellow and Silver Books obliges a party, when submitting a fully detailed claim, to include a statement identifying the contractual or other legal foundation for that claim. Supplying that statement is a condition precedent to any entitlement. At first instance, the court determined that once a party has specified the contractual basis it relies upon, it is not permitted to later advance a different basis. This approach is of persuasive value in England and Wales. See News Analysis: Hong Kong—effect of notification of contractual basis of claim ( Maeda v Bauer). The Hong Kong...

Naibu Global International Company plc and another v Daniel Stewart & Company plc and another [2020] EWHC 2719 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision presents several wide-ranging, practically significant points. In substance, it stands as another concrete illustration of a first‑instance court adopting the Supreme Court’s approach in Sevilleja v Marex Financial Ltd [2020] UKSC 31, and consequently striking out a claim characterised as reflective loss. That strike‑out occurred at an early juncture notwithstanding the claim’s substantial value. It therefore underlines how the Marex principle can be decisive at the threshold, irrespective of quantum, when a claim properly falls within the category of reflective loss as understood by the Supreme Court in that judgment itself. Different strategies will therefore be required when formulating losses liable to be treated as ‘reflective’...

What are the practical implications of this case? The decision is noteworthy in two respects. First, for those in commerce, it underscores how hard it is, under English law, to depart from the clear, ordinary sense of contractual language. The defendants advanced bold arguments that two terms should be implied so as to avoid the straightforward effect of the express provision at issue—namely that ‘return’ of the materials required their physical handover to the claimants, European Film Bonds AS and other companies ( EFB)—but the court rejected those submissions outright. Second, it clarifies, in this context, the outer boundaries of the penalty clause doctrine in English law. The defendants argued that, if the clauses were construed to require them automatically to acknowledge the film as ‘completed and delivered’ merely because a modest time limit had been missed, the result would be an...

Filatona Trading Ltd and another v Navigator Equities Ltd and others; Danilina v Chernukhin and others [2020] EWCA Civ 109 What are the practical implications of this case? If you wish to be certain that the individual named in the agreement is the sole true counterparty, the contract must deploy clear, unequivocal wording that shuts out any principal from relying on the rights and remedies within it. Standard form clauses to this effect are identified at para [90] of the judgment. Heightened caution is required where there is not only a principal, but one who is both known and disclosed. Where a party is fully aware that the signatory acts as a nominee or agent, any clause aimed at excluding that principal must be expressed with particular clarity, because such wording works against the strong common law presumption that parties are not to be treated as...

P.m. and Others (request for preliminary ruling) C-264/18 What are the practical implications of this case? Under the PCR 2015, a wide range of legal services let by public bodies fall within the ‘light‑touch’ regime in Chapter 3. As a result, awarding those contracts is governed by less burdensome requirements than those that apply to most other service procurements under the PCR 2015. Yet a narrower set of legal services—chiefly arbitration and conciliation work, together with representation in certain legal proceedings (and legal advice connected to such proceedings)—are carved out altogether from the procurement rules by regulation 10 of the PCR 2015. The dispute stems from a Belgian challenge to the exclusion of the relevant legal services under the Belgian counterpart to regulation 10. The applicants contended that excluding those services conflicted with the freedom of establishment and the freedom to provide services in the TFEU, and also...

Catlin Syndicate Ltd & Ors v Weyerhaeuser Company [2018] EWHC 3609 ( Comm) What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment confirms that the English court is reluctant to set aside parties’ bargains to arbitrate, even when the arbitration clause is incorporated by reference from the underlying layer and sits uneasily alongside express dispute resolution wording in the policy. The ruling highlights the practical difficulties that arise where layered (re)insurance placements carry inconsistent dispute resolution provisions. Because such layered programmes are standard for major risks, brokers and contracting parties should scrutinise with care not only the dispute resolution language in the layer they subscribe to, but also any such terms imported from policies beneath the layer. What was the background? The claimants and......

Sodzawiczny v Ruhan and others [2018] EWHC 1908 ( Comm) What are the practical implications of this case? The judgment places primary emphasis on how the court should approach an application to stay proceedings under AA 1996, s 9. Following an extensive analysis of the authorities, Popplewell J articulated the governing principles as follows: treat as matters raised by the proceedings any issue capable of amounting to a dispute or difference that may fall within an arbitration agreement where issues are not fully set out or developed, the court should seek to foresee and identify those which may reasonably arise stay the proceedings so far as any issue falls within the scope of the arbitration agreement; the exercise is not to single out the main issue, but to find all issues that could be the subject of...

When and why is the new DIFC Courts Technology and Construction Division ( TCD) opening? By way of context, Dubai operates under a civil law framework, with its court system governed by the UAE Civil Procedures Code. Yet Dubai also hosts the Dubai International Financial Centre ( DIFC), a financial free zone. The DIFC constitutes a distinct ‘offshore’ common law jurisdiction, with its own courts modelled on the English Commercial Court, and is separate from the ‘onshore’ Dubai courts. On 15 August 2017, following a public consultation in March and April 2017, the DIFC Courts confirmed the TCD would launch in October 2017. As to the rationale, construction is a major industry in the United Arab Emirates and across the Middle East. Disputes are frequent, often high in value and technically intricate, and they arise regularly. A specialist forum to hear such cases is...

Original news Symbion Power LLC v Venco Imtiaz Construction Company [2017] EWHC 348 ( TCC) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision is predominantly fact-specific. Nevertheless, it stands as an illustration of the court applying the guidance on AA 1996, s 68 applications—particularly s 68(2)(d)—as articulated by Mr Justice Akenhead in So S for the Home Department v Raytheon. For a fuller discussion of those principles, see News Analysis: e- Borders award set aside and dispute to be reheard by new tribunal ( So S for the Home Department v Raytheon). The judgment is also another instance of an unsuccessful attempt to set aside an arbitral award for serious irregularity. As with many AA 1996, s 68 challenges, it confirms the demanding threshold applicants must meet before the court will exercise its powers under AA 1996, s 68(3). Although the dispute stemmed from the...

Original news: Mascareignes Sterling Co Ltd v Chang Cheng Esquares Co Ltd ( Mauritius) [2016] UKPC 21 What was this case about? Mascareignes retained Chang Cheng under an amended JCT Standard Form of Contract (1980 Edition) with the Contractor’s Designed Portion Supplement to design and construct an office building in Port Louis, Mauritius. During delivery, the character of the works evolved, resulting in substantial additional and substituted items (variations). At completion, the quantity surveyor—who effectively administered the contract—issued the final account, valuing the majority of the works on a measurement-and-valuation basis because of the extent of the variations. Mascareignes refused payment, so Chang Cheng commenced arbitration and succeeded in obtaining an award for the sum certified in the final account. Mascareignes appealed, contending the arbitrator was wrong to: sanction the widespread use of measurement and valuation in the final account, holding either that the...

Inconsistent pleading between court and arbitration claims permitted ( ED& F Man Sugar v T& L Sugar) Practical implications This judgment confirms that: A determination in arbitration or court proceedings between A and B does not bind A in separate arbitration or court proceedings between A and C ( Lincoln National). A statement of truth concerns only the party’s belief in the factual matters pleaded and not assertions of legal conclusion, while reiterating the significance of statements of truth and the penalty for abusing them (para [12]). Accordingly, in an arbitration between the claimant and SRB, the claimant could contend that title to the property had passed to SRB, whilst in parallel issuing court proceedings against T& L Sugars ( T& L) for conversion premised on reliance upon a retention of title clause in its sale contract with SRB. How did the...

What are the key changes being brought in by the CCC? The CCC brings together Argentina’s essential civil and commercial rules, replacing the separate codes that had operated for more than 150 years. It intends to reflect the jurisprudence of the Argentine Supreme Court and significant contemporary currents in comparative law. The code reduces the combined bulk of the two former codes to 2,671 articles—from over 4,500—while also embracing areas that neither predecessor addressed. It introduces substantial adjustments affecting civil society, with particular impact on family law, including: Same-sex marriage Concubine relationships Matrimonial property regime Adoption Filiation stemming from assisted human reproduction techniques This review centres on the principal changes the CCC makes to the rules that shape business activity and commercial relations in Argentina. Single shareholder corporation In company law, the CCC brings several changes to Argentine corporation law 19.550, among them doing away with the...