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Lucasfilm did not benefit in any way at Tyburn Film Productions Ltd's expense, counsel said to the appeals court there on 3 December 2025, in part because it already possessed rights over Cushing's likeness and an agreement and consent from the Cushing estate to 'resurrect' him as Grand Moff Tarkin. Tyburn contends it earlier made an agreement with the late actor then, at the time, granting the company a veto over any use of his image prior to his 1994 death. That contract concerns a TV series titled 'Heritage of Horror', which never aired. Tyburn further asserts the deal permits it to effectively 'resurrect' Cushing using stand-ins and CGI to ultimately finish the programme then if the actor were to die whilst filming remained in progress...
Irish telecom operator Eircom’s damages lawsuit against BT Group over a public-sector contract must be carefully managed to trial to deal with confidentiality issues and other matters, a UK judge told the parties today. At the High Court in London today, a judge said Eircom’s damages action against BT over a public-sector contract needs tight case management through to trial to address confidentiality and related concerns. Eircom brought the claim after Ofcom in 2020 penalised BT for its behaviour during a tender. Speaking to both sides, Judge Adam Johnson urged them to resolve any confidentiality flashpoints themselves and signalled he had no wish to step in unless it became unavoidable. He also expressed confidence that parties would do everything possible to keep confidential designations to a minimum, noting this was necessary to maintain control over the conduct of the trial. He framed this as the
The following document is attached: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/274 dated 5 February 2026, revising Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1981, establishing a final anti-dumping levy on imports of ceramic tableware and kitchenware produced in...
Justice Richard Arnold granted AstraZeneca leave to appeal and permitted lorries carrying about 175,000 packs of Glenmark’s generics to move on to wholesalers, provided they did not reach pharmacy shelves while the case continued at any point during those interim proceedings. In this way, Glenmark could keep its first-to-market advantage, while causing only minimal detriment to AstraZeneca should the Court of Appeal later be persuaded to issue an injunction against supply. The judge said this approach maintained the status quo with the least possible prejudice to Glenmark’s position overall. The hearing was arranged at short notice, just days after the High Court refused AstraZeneca an injunction to block the diabetes generic from sale while the court considered whether the patents supporting the branded medicine were valid in law. Glenmark, Generics (UK) Ltd and Teva Pharmaceuticals have each begun proceedings in the UK to set...
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For decades, the United States fronted these efforts through prosecutions brought under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ( FCPA). On 10 February 2025, however, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order No 14209, halting FCPA enforcement. During this suspension, the US Department of Justice ( DOJ) intends to re-evaluate enforcement strategies, and likely endorse a new course that may dilute future US prosecutions in the United States. That step will inevitably leave a gap requiring attention by the international community. Given the increasingly cross-border character of FCPA cases, and the tested detection and enforcement frameworks backed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD) over many years, liberal democracies worldwide are well placed to occupy that space with credible, co-ordinated action. They could pursue a kind of ‘ Reverse Marshall Plan’, stepping forward to lead the rollout of a robust...
Mergers The Commission approved: the purchase of shared control of Outlet Mall Group Holding S.à.r.l. ...
The European Commission’s 24 March 2025 decision, which classifies the arbitral award in Antin v Spain ( Infrastructure Services Luxembourg S.à.r.l. and Energia Termosolar B. V. (formerly Antin Infrastructure Services Luxembourg S.à.r.l. and Antin Energia Termosolar B. V.) v Kingdom of Spain, ICSID Case No ARB/13/31) as unlawful and incompatible state aid under Article 107(1) TFEU, represents one of the gravest tests yet to the enforceability of intra‑ EU investment arbitration awards. Building on the Court of Justice of the European Union’s Achmea and Komstroy rulings, it imposes strict duties on EU Member States to resist recognition or enforcement of such awards, both at home and in non‑ EU fora. It also underscores the Commission’s far‑reaching view of its competence under state aid rules, with clear repercussions for investors’ legitimate expectations and their enforcement tactics. The conclusion has immediate, real‑world...
Re Sino- Ocean Group Holding Ltd [2025] EWHC 205 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? The practical implications of this judgment are: Questions about how a voting class is constituted or composed should, preferably, be aired at the convening hearing, not deferred to the sanction hearing. A dissenting creditor cannot simply contend that liquidation or any other ‘relevant alternative’ advanced by the plan company is not the relevant alternative for Condition A; they must also identify a specific alternative. It is not abusive for a plan company to include a consenting class within a plan, even if this enables a cross‑class cram down, provided the plan has a meaningful effect on that assenting class. When assessing any challenge to whether a special interest creditor’s vote is representative, the court will proceed flexibly rather than apply a rigid “but for”...
Enhance When unveiling the Review, OFSI led with the headline, ‘ UK sanctions freeze £25bn of Russian assets’, adding that ‘over £25 billion of Russian assets [has been] reported frozen since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine’. That total derives from OFSI’s Russian Frozen Assets In‑ Year Reporting, which records the most recent known value of frozen assets said to be held at the moment of designation, as reported to the authority by those required to make such notifications. By December 2024, £25bn in assets linked to the Russia regime had been notified to OFSI as frozen since February 2022. In 2023, frozen funds reported to OFSI across every sanctions regime came to £24.5bn, with £10bn attributable to the Russia regime. The updated number appears in OFSI’s latest Annual Frozen Asset Review, which obliges anyone holding or controlling assets frozen under UK financial...
Beard v HMRC [2025] EWCA Civ 385 Section 402(1) of the Income Tax ( Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 ( ITTOIA 2005) levies income tax on dividends paid by companies that are not UK resident. Under s 402(4), dividends do not encompass ‘dividends of a capital nature’. Aside from that carve-out, the statute does not define ‘dividend’. The Explanatory Notes to the Bill that became ITTOIA 2005 indicate that identifying a dividend ‘will usually be a matter of referring to the relevant company law’. Case law has clarified the concept of a ‘dividend’ in other settings (for example, Memec v IRC [1996] STC 1336) and the capital versus income character of payments (for example, IRC v Reid’s Trustees [1949] AC 361, In re Duff’s Settlement [1951] Ch 923, Rae v Lazard [1963] 1 WLR 555, Courtaulds v Fleming [1969] 1 WLR 1683,...
The official notice is enclosed. Case ref: T-179/25. See Action lodged on 13 March 2025 – Wireless Connect v...
See Q& A: Where a donor of a lasting power of attorney appoints an attorney who lives overseas, under what circumstances can the attorney be reimbursed from the donor's bank accounts to fund their travel when returning to the UK? Powers of attorney constitute a species of agency, yet they are unlike standard commercial agencies because they serve to assure third parties that the attorney holds authority, and to clearly define its scope, rather than to regulate the internal relationship between principal and agent. The attorney’s obligations are largely shaped by the common law, together with doctrines drawn from the law of trusts and wider fiduciary principles, in practice......
The Post Office has spent more than £600m of taxpayers’ money to keep the flawed Horizon IT system running, even after deciding to move away from it more than a decade ago. Their ongoing dependence upon Horizon appears to arise from the 1999 contract with Fujitsu, which did not confer on the Post Office the intellectual property rights in the software. Without control or ownership of the source code, the Post Office could neither examine nor modify it, especially the crucial component that processed financial transactions. As a result, they had to rely upon Fujitsu’s assurances regarding the software’s functionality, assurances that, as we now know, were wrong. Those flaws contributed to hundreds of wrongful convictions of sub-postmasters......
What are the practical implications of this case? This case underscores the Swiss courts’ hesitation to compel non-signatories to arbitrate, particularly where the proposed extension rests purely on their behaviour. According to current jurisprudence, an arbitration clause can capture non-signatories if, for instance, their conduct reveals a clear intention to be bound by it (see, eg 4A_528/2019). In this dispute, however, both the tribunal and the court discerned no such intention. Nor did the record reveal conduct that might reasonably be read as tacit assent to the arbitration clause by C. While the non-signatory invoked rights arising under the shareholders’ agreement, it pursued them solely before a Latvian court. The court refused to accept that issuing proceedings in a court evidences an intention to arbitrate. On comparable facts, courts in common law systems might have relied on equitable estoppel, a doctrine that prevents a...
Public examination of officers under section 133 of the Insolvency Act 1986 Refer to the Practice Note covering the public examination of officers pursuant to section 133 of the Insolvency Act 1986. For concise outlines on evidence and the processes for gathering it, consult the following overviews: Evidence and evidence gathering—overview Evidence gathering and obtaining property—overview ......
EU AI Act timeline for GPAI Code of Practice Under the EU AI Act, the Code of Practice must be finalised by 2 May 2025 at the latest, and the European Commission’s AI Office is obliged to take the ‘necessary steps’ so the Code is recognised as an official compliance instrument. Yet, earlier this week the EU AI Office informed participants in the drafting work that ‘the final GPAI Code of Practice and the Commission guidelines on GPAI [are] expected to be published ahead of August 2025’. Its communication further notes: ‘ This extension of the deadline comes as a result of prioritising extended feedback cycles (as requested by all stakeholders), and to give stakeholders four weeks to respond to the consultation on guidelines’. According to the Commission’s updated website, the definitive Code will be presented at the closing plenary session and issued by August 2025,...
Roseline Logistics Ltd v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 427 ( TC) HMRC served the appellant ( Roseline) with a post-clearance demand note in relation to import VAT arising. The demand concerned 32 import declarations submitted by Roseline during a specified period, apparently on behalf of QP Trading Ltd ( QPTL). Roseline lodged those declarations whilst acting, or purporting to act, as QPTL’s customs agent throughout that timeframe. Each declaration used post import VAT accounting ( PIVA), the effect of which is to allow a trader to account for import VAT on its VAT return rather than paying VAT at the point of import, and this method of VAT accounting is very commonly used in practice. However, QPTL was not eligible to use PIVA at that time. Accordingly, PIVA could not properly be applied to those entries......
The Competition and Markets Authority ( CMA) expects online TRPs to act against businesses that seek to inflate their ratings through fake or misleading reviews. However, some businesses may resist—arguing the TRP was wrong to impose penalties and that they have suffered significant damage as a consequence. How can TRPs find the right balance in these circumstances? What are TRPs and what does UK law say about fake reviews? Trader recommendation platforms, or TRPs, are sites or apps that publish consumer reviews of businesses. Consumers value them because they can see what others thought about a business they are considering buying from; indeed, some TRPs also require businesses on their platform to pass a vetting process before they can feature on the site or the app. Businesses favour them because they generate leads—particularly from customers such as homeowners, where...
Trower v Elmbridge Borough Council [2025] EWHC 314 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The judgment offers a concise survey of the rules on lawful consultation and the central tenets of the public sector equality duty, but its core significance lies in its analysis of the legal framework for Public Spaces Protection Orders ( PSPOs) under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Police Act 2014 ( ABCPA 2014). ABCPA 2014 permits interested persons to pursue a statutory appeal against a PSPO on grounds largely mirroring those in judicial review. Consequently, PSPOs must satisfy public law standards, notably clarity sufficient to direct affected individuals who might face prosecution for contravening their terms. Where an order fails, on its face, to state when it applies and when it does not, it lacks the requisite certainty and is unlikely to meet the...
Hymans Robertson reported that, with several new insurers entering the fray, supply now surpasses demand in the risk transfer market. This marks a stark and notable turnaround from 2023, when heightened demand effectively edged smaller schemes out of contention and left them unable to complete transactions. ' The evolving composition of the UK risk transfer market signals a genuinely exciting period indeed for small schemes,' said Iain Church, head of core transactions at Hymans Robertson......
On 6 May 2025 at the High Court, Judge Bryan Fraser said that a row over whether administrators of Greensill’s German bank unit can claim on a policy issued by Zurich Insurance Co Ltd will proceed in October 2027. The 11-week hearing will also feature separate claims targeting Lex Greensill and Sanjeev Gupta, the metals tycoon who was once a key customer of Greensill’s collapsed finance enterprise. Allegations have been made that Greensill and Gupta worked together to mislead Zurich underwriters about purportedly sham receivables. Greensill Capital, founded by the financier in 2011, advanced funds to clients, taking their suppliers’ invoices as security before packaging the loans into securities sold on to investors. The supply chain finance business failed in 2021, prompting creditors to scramble to recover billions of pounds in vanished assets. Since then it has drawn scrutiny from...
Isio, a pensions consultant, said the idea of the dollar as a safe-haven asset in times of market turmoil could be over. The US dollar currency has fallen markedly in value since President Donald Trump unveiled his ' Liberation Day' tariff regime back on 2 April 2025. Roughly US$2.5trn was wiped from Wall Street in trading during the next session alone. Unhedged exposure to the US had been truly something overseas investors could depend upon as a safety blanket, but now, for the......
Mergers The CMA has invited comments regarding the proposed acquisition by Omnicom Group Inc. of The Interpublic Group of Companies Inc.—please see the case page for full details. NOTE— For all live mergers before the CMA, consult the UK mergers—ongoing cases tracker Upcoming dates For dates of forthcoming UK competition developments, see the UK Competition calendar......
Johnstone v Fawcett’s Garage ( Newbury) Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 467 What are the practical implications of this case? The key consequence of the ruling is the Court of Appeal’s categorical and wholesale dismissal of the ‘absolute risk approach’, put forward by the defendant in this case on the strength of obiter support from the High Court in Bannister v Freemans Public Ltd Company [2020] EWHC 1256 ( QB). As a consequence of the Court of Appeal’s decision in this case, those obiter remarks in Bannister should no longer be regarded as representing good law, or treated as authoritative. The judgment further confirms that it was open to the trial judge in this case to employ a ‘direct risk assessment’ to calculate the increase in the risk of a person developing mesothelioma, and that doing so was permissible on the facts. It does not,...
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When evaluating a general damages claim, the practitioner ought initially to refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG)...
This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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