Legal News

Topalsson GMBH v Rolls- Royce Motor Cars Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 1330 What are the practical implications of this case? This decision underscores the need for crisp, accurate drafting to prevent disputes arising from interpretative ambiguity. Lord Justice Coulson stressed giving primacy to the ‘words actually used’ in the contract to identify the parties’ genuine intentions when addressing questions of construction. Clear, unequivocal wording is vital in core clauses—particularly liability and contractual remedies—to avoid unforeseen consequences, financial or otherwise. The judgment also highlights the value of rigorous negotiation around limitations of liability and associated terms, so as to avert future difficulties. Parties should adopt a forward‑looking stance, setting out with precision how the rights and remedies in the agreement will operate in real‑world scenarios if triggered. More generally, the parties’ conduct can shape the court’s discretionary approach when resolving disputes and determining...

Khan and others v Khan [2024] EWHC 2491 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision contributes to the growing jurisprudence on trusts of family property where there is scant or no paperwork. In such matters, the court must reconstruct intentions and make findings from longstanding, informal family arrangements, often stretching back decades, in the absence of formal written records to clarify how interests were intended to be held. What was the background? The dispute concerned four addresses: 14 Stapleton Road, 7 Essex Grove, 53 Norbury Crescent and 5 Ullswater. Mr Khan was central to acquiring the Properties, although legal ownership and mortgages were, at times, placed in the names of different children from the outset. The children— Ahmed, Sarwar, Muhammed (the ‘ Sons’), together with Shalima, Farhana and Jennifer (the ‘ Daughters’)—each asserted differing stakes in the Properties. Through a series of...

Mergers The Commission authorised: the shift to joint control over Mars Debtco Limited by the Onex Corporation Qatar Holding LLC ( M.11723), following a phase I investigation—see further, Midday Express the deal granting sole control of Banca Progetto S.p. A......

Sky Kick UK Ltd and another ( Appellants) v Sky Ltd and others ( Respondents) [2024] UKSC 36 Background In this litigation, the respondents ( Sky) alleged that the appellants ( Sky Kick) had infringed five of their registered trade marks (collectively the ‘ SKY marks’) by using the sign Sky Kick, or slight variants of it, for their email and cloud storage products and services. Sky relied upon four EU trade marks and one UK trade mark as the foundation of the claim. The infringement allegations concerning the EU marks extended across the entire EU, while those relating to the UK mark were, by necessity, restricted to the UK. Sky Kick denied infringement and contested the validity of the SKY marks. Through four judgments, and following a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union, the High Court determined that Sky had...

On 11 November 2024, the FCA announced that, following the completion of a review, it had expanded the overall scope of information it may release when examining authorised individuals or firms that might have breached its rules. The review had been recommended by a tribunal in June 2023, which upheld an appeal brought by former staff of investment bank Julius Baer against an FCA ruling that barred them from working in regulated financial services. The regulator said on 11 November 2024: ‘ Under our widened approach, we will provide all material that is relevant to the facts, unless disclosure would be disproportionate, not in the public interest, or otherwise inappropriate.’ It added: ‘ This encompasses material that may undermine the case as well as material that supports it.’ According to the FCA, the change is designed to reduce the risk of...

Mergers General Court rejects appeals against Commission’s clearance of Vodafone’s purchase of Liberty Global’s cable business In Cases T-58/20 Net Cologne v Commission, T-64/20 Deutshe Telekom v Commission and T-69/20 Tele Columbus v Commission, the General Court delivered rulings on challenges to the Commission’s 18 July 2019 decision conditionally approving Vodafone’s acquisition of Liberty Global’s telecommunications activities in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. The Court dismissed all three actions. It held that the Commission had rightly concluded the merging parties were not competitors in the markets for the retail supply of TV signal transmission services in Germany. Background On 9 May 2018, Vodafone agreed to buy Liberty Global’s operations in Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. The Commission was notified of the transaction on 19 October 2018. On 18 July 2019, following an in-depth phase 2...

After a series of high-profile probes, several US technology firms have halted the training of generative AI systems across the 27 EU Member States in 2024 throughout the bloc. Supervisory authorities fear such training may breach the EU GDPR, as generative AI can ingest immense volumes of personal data without users’ consent or an appropriate legal basis. Building these models depends on sweeping up data from the public internet, spanning personal, non-personal and mixed datasets, much of it scraped from publicly accessible sources, including social media platforms, often at scale. This approach has triggered knotty debates about how data protection rules should be interpreted and enforced. How can AI providers develop generative models while fully honouring GDPR principles such as lawfulness, transparency and fairness, purpose limitation, data minimisation, storage limitation, accuracy, security and accountability? Authors and creators also face the pressing concern of whether these...

In a keenly awaited ruling, the High Court decided that Water Rower ( UK) Ltd could not press infringement actions against competing rowing machine manufacturer Liking Ltd, as it lacked any copyright in its own design in this dispute. The court found that the prototype Water Rower devised by John Duke might qualify as an original work for the purposes of EU law, yet it did not amount to a work of ‘artistic craftsmanship’ within the meaning of the UK’s Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Deputy Judge Campbell Forsyth stated that Mr Duke applied his expertise to build the prototype and that it possesses visual appeal, but concluded that, in doing so, he did not act with the attributes of an artist craftsman. Advisers from Gunnercooke, who represented Liking in the dispute, hailed the decision as ‘one of the most...

On 7 October 2024, following a public consultation, the EDPB adopted the final version of ‘ Guidelines 2/2023 on the technical scope of Article 5(3) of the e Privacy Directive’—often referred to as the ‘cookie rule’ (the Guidelines). The authors previously reviewed the first draft in December 2023 (see News Analysis: EU— New EDPB guidelines on the scope of the ‘cookie rule’). Only limited differences separate that draft from the endorsed text. The EDPB still pursues an extremely expansive interpretation of the cookie rule, with most amendments simply providing clarification. This piece outlines the substance of the Guidelines and offers brief observations on their practical implications. Background It has long been accepted that conventional internet cookies engage the cookie rule. With newer tracking approaches—such as pixels, URL tracking and Java Script code—emerging, the EDPB sought to dispel potential ambiguities. The Guidelines...

R (oao Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust) v HMRC [2024] UKUT 334 ( TCC) Under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and the Local Authorities ( Public Health Functions and Entry to Premises by Local Healthwatch Representatives) Regulations 2013, SI 2013/315, local authorities carry statutory obligations to secure specified health services, and may procure their delivery through competitive tendering. The Trust won contracts to deliver such services for local authorities, including some beyond its own geographical footprint. Those services were provided without charge to users and funded from public monies. The central question was whether supplying these services to local authorities amounted, as the Trust contended, to a non-business activity undertaken in its capacity as a public authority, or, as HMRC maintained, to a business activity undertaken other than as a public authority. Assessing the contractual framework, the UT concluded that each...

Subsidy control The Subsidy Advice Unit has agreed requests for advisory reports to: Arts Council England on its proposed Extension Awards over £1m subsidy scheme—see further, case page Scottish Enterprise on its proposed Capital Investment Scheme—see further, case page NOTE— For all decisions referred to the Subsidy Advice Unit under the Subsidy Control Act 2022, see further, UK subsidy control—cases tracker Antitrust The CMA has updated case details regarding its ongoing investigation into suspected infringements of the Chapter I prohibition of the Competition Act 1998 involving exchanges of competitively sensitive information by housebuilders in Great Britain—see further, case page The CMA issued its ninth update (for Q2 and Q3 2024) on Google’s implementation of the binding commitments accepted to tackle competition concerns in Google’s ‘ Privacy Sandbox’ browser changes...

The Executors of KDL Beresford v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 952 ( TC) The deceased, B, held shares in F Ltd, which in turn wholly owned N Ltd. N Ltd owned a six‑storey office building situated in London. Two storeys were let on commercial leases, while the remaining four were run as serviced offices, administered for the company by an agent. At any given time, approximately 42 individual offices in total were in occupation, usually by between seven and 20 separate firms. Clients entered into 12‑month office agreements including a break clause and were required to pay two separate fees. The first, the 'facility fee', related to the office space and a set of standard services, such as utilities, cleaning, telephone answering and reception services, together with access to kitchens and sanitary facilities......

The European Union’s executive body intends to reduce the administrative burden by drafting a single, wide‑ranging law that ‘draws from numerous dossiers to curb bureaucracy, to lighten reporting obligations’, the Commission President told assembled journalists during a press conference. Von der Leyen’s statement followed a meeting of EU heads of state and government held on 8 November 2024 in Budapest, where they......

The FRC confirmed it has proposed amendments within its consultation on updates to the UK stewardship code, prompted by criticism that the present definition suggests stewardship’s primary aim is to advance environmental and social objectives. Richard Moriarty, the FRC’s chief executive, said the consultation represents a significant development of the code, ensuring it sustains strong standards of stewardship in a way that remains proportionate and continues to support UK growth. He added that, in doing so, the intention is to further enhance the UK’s appeal as a leading global destination for capital and its management. However, the FRC noted that its updated and strengthened definition still emphasises the......

What are the practical implications of this case? This case has three important practical implications: as outlined below in brief it is the first occasion when a Russian court allowed enforcement of an arbitral award against a non-party to the arbitration agreement. The court’s reasoning for treating two companies within the same group as the same economic entity is plainly illogical, especially given the undisputed fact they are separate legal persons incorporated in different jurisdictions. This indicates a lack of understanding of the principles of the arbitration agreement by Russian judges it is a positive development that the judge did not consider the composition of the tribunal when assessing the arbitral award’s compliance with the public order of the RF......

Mergers The application in Case T-507/24, Kingspan Group v Commission, has now been made public; it appeals the Hearing Officer’s ruling of 19 July 2023 in Case M.10962— Kingspan Group ( Article 14(1) proceedings)—see further, application The Commission formally approved: AXA Assicurazioni Sp A’s acquisition of sole control of Nobis Compagnia di Assicurazioni Sp A ( M.11665) following a phase I investigation—see further, Midday Express the acquisition of joint control of Grandi Stazioni Retail S.p. A by OMERS Infrastructure European Holdings B. V. ......

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, announced that the bloc will cooperate with global partners at the COP29 conference in Azerbaijan from 11–22 November 2024 to push forward actions keeping the temperature increase as near as possible to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It stressed that its chief priority at the meeting is agreeing a new collective quantified target for climate finance. The Paris Agreement, a worldwide pact concluded in 2015, commits countries to hold warming well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to strive for 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Commission added that parties to the Paris Agreement are expected to bring international financial flows into line with climate objectives, unlocking investment by settling on a new collective quantified goal under Paris Agreement to unlock investments......

On 7 November 2024, US District Judge Amit P Mehta issued an order in the long-running matter, addressing a bid by petitioners Ioan and Viorel Micula for a second judgment on accrued sanctions. The brothers asked for US$15.9m against Romania, covering civil sanctions that built up from August 2021 to August 2024. Mehta J cut the figure to US$13.7m, noting the Miculas had paused for five months before replying to a filing from a Romanian court. Nonetheless, the ruling largely favoured the brothers, who had first pursued arbitration in 2005 under the Sweden– Romania bilateral investment treaty. Arbitrators at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ultimately found for the Miculas after Romania withdrew economic incentives intended to spur investment in poorer regions of the country......

Background and context On 30 October, alongside the Autumn 2024 Budget, the incoming Labour administration unveiled a Corporate Tax Roadmap ( Roadmap), outlining how it intends to shape the UK corporate tax landscape across the parliamentary term (up to five years). Commentary has focused on the breadth of the Autumn Budget measures — notable rises in taxation, borrowing and expenditure pledges — and the Roadmap should be viewed against that backdrop. Ministers have likewise stated a desire to lift private sector investment in the UK to support economic expansion. The Roadmap’s declared aim is to deliver stability, certainty and predictability within corporate taxation, thereby giving businesses the confidence to commit to long-term investments the government sees as vital to its growth plan. It covers core elements of corporation tax — rates, the tax base and principal allowances — alongside strategic direction and...

Importance of diversity in international arbitration The international arbitration community broadly agrees on the key advantages of embracing diversity. Greater diversity within international arbitration strengthens the perceived legitimacy of the process. As highlighted by scholars Kabir Dugal and Amanda Lee in the Columbia Law International Arbitration Review, concerns about fairness and bias intensify when the pool of Investor-state dispute settlement ( ISDS) arbitrators lacks diversity and inclusivity. Bringing together arbitrators and counsel with varied backgrounds ensures that a wider range of perspectives and experiences informs deliberations. This, in turn, can reinforce both the credibility and legitimacy of proceedings and support the enforceability of awards. Diversity also advances cultural awareness and sensitivity in the management of cross-border disputes. Dugal and Lee contend that broader representation during tribunal deliberations can lead to more robust awards, as a multiplicity of viewpoints can better enable the tribunal to grasp the...