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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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The survey gathered input from 14 of the 28 insurers listed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority ( SRA) for the 2024 indemnity year. Conducted anonymously via Qualtrics and in partnership with the International Underwriting Association, it found that 38% of respondents foresaw potential difficulties at renewal, although the exact tally was not provided. Browne Jacobson reported that solicitors began considering leaving the PII market after the Court of Appeal’s January 2024 decision in Discovery Land Co LLC and others v Axis Specialty Europe SE. The firm noted that the ruling heightened worries about tightly drawn aggregation of claims under the SRA’s minimum terms and conditions, which influence the limit of indemnity. Ed Anderson, a partner at Browne Jacobson who deals with PII, ......
In a stock market update, the firm, among the biggest writers of cyber insurance, stated it remains on course to deliver a substantial profit this year. Specialists have cautioned that insurers could face broad claims for business interruption alongside those on cyber policies. The disruption stemmed from a flawed Crowd Strike update, a corporate cyber security platform, which stopped roughly 8.5m Microsoft Windows endpoints from starting up as usual at boot across affected fleets and installations of devices......
HMRC v GE Financial Investments [2024] EWCA Civ 797 The appellant company ( GEFI) was a UK-resident member of the GE group, acting as the limited partner in a Delaware limited partnership ( LP). The LP’s general partner was a US-resident group entity, GEFI Inc. For US federal income tax purposes, GEFI and GEFI Inc were treated as stapled entities, since shares in one could not be transferred unless the shares in the other were likewise transferred to the same recipient. As a result of that staple, GEFI became subject to US tax on its worldwide income. It claimed UK double tax relief in respect of the US tax for six consecutive accounting periods, but HMRC rejected each of those claims. The First-tier Tax Tribunal ( FTT) dismissed GEFI’s appeal, determining that it was not resident in the US under Article 4 of the US/ UK...
Sundorne Products ( Llanidloes) Ltd v Geminor UK Ltd [2024] EWHC 1666 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? Businesses and legal practitioners often treat ‘memorandums of understanding’ as non-binding expressions of future intent, nothing further. They are commonly deployed when parties either cannot, or do not yet wish to, enter into a binding contract. In some instances, particular provisions may bite—such as confidentiality—while others remain aspirational. Yet, as ever, a court may infer a concluded bargain from, inter alia, the parties’ intentions and behaviour. The mere fact that the document is headed ‘memorandum of understanding’ may influence that assessment, but it is not conclusive. This decision highlights the risk of a rigid, label-driven mindset that presumes signing an Mo U cannot create (or will forestall) a legally enforceable relationship. Advisers should warn clients—if they do not...
Oculus Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2024] UKFTT 271 ( TC) What are the practical implications of this case? If an EU-based party does not itself receive notice of an SRN, even though its UK agent has been notified, that party cannot contest the notification, even where it alleges a material negative impact on the EU entity’s operations. EU law—most notably provisions concerning the FOMC—no longer has effect in domestic law and so cannot supersede FA 2004, ss 310D–311B, which were inserted by section 122 and Schedule 3 to the Finance Act 2021 ( FA 2021). Those domestic provisions apply without displacement by EU rules. What was the background? Oculus advanced loans or comparable benefits in kind to its workforce. GAL acted for Oculus as its agent in connection with this arrangement. Under UK domestic rules, granting loans, or the direct extension of other credit to...
Competition policy CMA publishes annual report on concurrency 2024 The CMA has released its 2024 annual concurrency report. It is the tenth, succeeding a baseline report issued in 2014......
Mergers The Commission cleared a joint venture between Kiwa Deutschland Gmb H and adesso SE ( M.11601) after phase I—see Midday Express. The Commission received the notification in Oakley Capital/ Eurazeo/ I‑ Tracing ( M.11627) under the simplified merger procedure. NOTE— For live merger cases, see EU mergers—ongoing cases tracker. State aid The General Court issued an order in T‑217/24 YU v Commission, an appeal for compensation for non‑pecuniary harm (anxiety, suffering and health decline) and interest until decisions in SA.46963 and SA.52275; interim measures refused—see order. The Court of Justice ordered in C‑233/24 YU v Commission, appealing the General Court’s order in T‑529/23 that had rejected annulment of the Commission’s decision in SA.46963 and SA.52275 on alleged French aid; Appeal dismissed as manifestly unfounded—see order. The Commission named Koen Van de Casteele Director for ‘ State aid: General...
Commission coordinates action by national consumer protection authorities against Meta on 'pay or consent' model Today, the Consumer Protection Cooperation ( CPC) Network dispatched a letter after raising doubts that Meta’s ‘pay or consent’ approach could infringe EU consumer rules. The Commission coordinated the move, which is headed by the French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention. The initiative began in 2023, straight after Meta suddenly asked users to either pay a subscription to access Facebook and Instagram or agree to Meta processing their personal data to deliver personalised advertising from which Meta profits (‘pay or consent’). Consumer protection bodies reviewed several aspects that may amount to misleading or aggressive practices, notably whether Meta offered consumers upfront information that was accurate, transparent and sufficient. They examined if such information enabled people to grasp the consequences of choosing to pay, or to accept the...
Our Practice Compliance forecast as at 23 July 2024 monitors proposed regulatory developments relevant to law firm compliance, helping you prepare for changes affecting your organisation. Please read it closely; highlights that should be on your radar appear below. New items we’re tracking this month SRA firm AML and sanctions data requirements — the SRA will shortly request from all regulated firms: details of matters falling within the scope of the MLR 2017; any contact with or involvement in the sanctions regime, including any designated persons; and information on firms’ submission of suspicious activity reports to the NCA......
On 23 July 2024, SFO director Ephgrave said that Graham Mc Nulty, an ex-deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police Service, has joined the agency as chief capability officer. Mc Nulty retired from the Met in 2023 and had led the serious and organised crime portfolio. His Linked In profile notes he directed around 2,000 officers tasked with confronting cyber-offences, economic crime and overseas operations. Ephgrave said Mc Nulty would be a significant asset to the Serious Fraud Office, citing his outstanding track record in tackling complex economic crime and in steering large, multidisciplinary teams......
See Q& A: Can an attorney renounce the right to apply for probate on behalf of the donor where the donor is physically unable to sign the PA15 renunciation form but still has mental capacity? The attorney is appointed as executor with the donor in the Will, can the attorney still sign the renunciation on the donor’s behalf given he is the remaining executor? When an individual is appointed as an executor under a Will, they are not obliged to take up the office. They may, so long as they have not already intermeddled with the estate, give up the appointment. This is achieved by completing and executing the PA15 renunciation form......
The Consumer Protection Cooperation ( CPC) Network (which enforces EU consumer protection laws) The Consumer Protection Cooperation ( CPC) Network has informed Meta that it is worried about the firm’s demand that consumers either agree to their personal data being used for personalised advertising or pay for a subscription. The action, led by France’s consumer authority and co-ordinated by the commission, argues that the pay-or-consent model introduced in the EU in November 2024 may mislead people by using the word ‘free’, while Meta asks them to accept that it can generate revenue by using their personal data to display personalised ads. The CPC network lodged its complaint alongside the European Commission’s ongoing examination of whether Meta’s pay-or-consent approach satisfies the obligations of the EU Digital Markets Act ( DMA). That law requires Meta to secure users’ consent when it plans to combine or use their...
Lehner v Lant Street Management Ltd [2024] UKUT 0135 ( LC) What are the practical implications of this case? The BSA 2022 sets out a regime safeguarding leaseholders with ‘qualifying leases’ against paying, in whole or in part, service charges that would otherwise fall due from them as their contribution towards expenditure connected with ‘relevant defects’ arising out of post‑ Grenfell cladding remediation costs. Its widest protection relieves all leaseholders of any duty to fund ‘relevant measures’ where the landlord was ‘responsible for’ the particular defect. When that requirement is fulfilled, the protection is absolute and complete; accordingly, if it is not, leaseholder contributions still remain constrained by a ‘permitted maximum’ payable by leaseholders. The protections apply not only to the works themselves but also to associated professional fees and legal costs, including sums otherwise recoverable through service charges. The principal provisions lie in BSA 2022, s 122 and...
Bennett v London Borough of Islington [2024] EAT 118 Employment Appeal Tribunal Judge Simon Auerbach found that the employment tribunal should not have proceeded to trial on Heidi Bennett’s case against the London Borough of Islington after her solicitor withdrew due to a worsening kidney stone condition. He ruled that the tribunal failed to grapple with the full consequences for the claimant of losing her representative at that point, particularly her ability to run the case herself, given the evidence of her mental health disability. On that basis, the appellate judge directed that the matter be heard afresh......
Tanfield (as executor of the Estate of Paul Watkins) and another company v Meadowbrook Montessori Ltd [2024] EWHC 1759 ( Ch), [2024] All ER ( D) 77 ( Jul) What are the practical implications of this case? The court’s assessment of the respondent’s cross‑claim is especially significant for the following reasons: Forfeiture and the common law rules—the judgment sets out the arguments underpinning the company’s ‘strongly arguable case’ that a purported forfeiture by peaceable re‑entry was unlawful where no formal common law demand for rent was made before re‑entry and the lease did not waive the requirement for such a demand (see paras [75]–[84]). This element of the ruling serves as a useful reminder of the prior demand rules at common law which may bite where a proviso for re‑entry in the lease does not expressly dispense with the necessity for a formal rent demand....
Antitrust Commission launches investigation into possible anti-competitive agreements in the online food delivery sector The Commission has announced the launch of an investigation into whether Delivery Hero and Glovo have infringed Article 101 TFEU by taking part in a cartel affecting online ordering and delivery of food, groceries and other everyday consumer goods across the EEA. Delivery Hero, based in Germany, and Spain’s Glovo are among Europe’s largest food ordering and delivery operators. In June 2022 and again in November 2023, the Commission conducted unannounced inspections at their premises as part of an own-initiative inquiry into suspected collusion in the food delivery space. From July 2018, Delivery Hero held a minority stake in Glovo, before acquiring sole control in July 2022. The Commission is concerned that, prior to the merger, the two firms may have divided territories and exchanged...
Under a plea agreement lodged with the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, and pending judicial approval, Boeing would pay an additional $US243.6m in fines, commit $US455m to bolstering safety and compliance, and place itself under independent oversight for three years. A hearing had been slated for last week; however, federal prosecutors sought extra time to finalise the proposal’s details. The move follows Boeing’s failure to honour the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement ( DPA) it reached with prosecutors in 2021. Under that pact, the company paid over $US2.5bn in penalties and compensation to victims’ families, acknowledging responsibility for two 737 Max crashes in Indonesia (2018) and Ethiopia (2019) that together claimed 346 lives. Boeing was additionally placed under three years of supervision, during which it was, inter alia, to ‘design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics...
What are the practical implications of this case? The key point is that, where UK rights underpin the dispute, appeals lie only against EUIPO Board of Appeal decisions dated on or before IP completion day (11.00 pm on 31 December 2020). It is still uncertain how the Board of Appeal will dispose of the matter now sent back for reconsideration, including whether it will be rejected on the simple basis that Indo European Foods’ earlier right no longer constitutes a valid ground of opposition in the EU. What was the background? Mr Chakari lodged an EUTM application on 14 June 2017 for a figurative sign, covering goods made from rice in Classes 30 and 31 (see image at para [15] of the judgment). On 13 October 2017, Indo European Foods submitted a notice of opposition relying on the earlier unregistered UK word mark BASMATI for rice,...
Vneshprombank LLC v Bedzhamov; Kireeva (as bankruptcy trustee of Georgy Bedzhamov) v Bedzhamov [2024] EWHC 1048 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? The court’s construction of the Russia ( Sanctions) ( EU Exit) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/855, reg 11 (‘ Regulation 11’) is unlikely to surprise criminal practitioners; the real practical weight of the ruling lies in its broader analysis of what amounts to a ‘reasonable cause to suspect’. Regulation 11 imposes an objective yardstick: based on the information actually known to the decision-maker, would a reasonable person suspect the funds are those of a designated person—would, rather than might or could? The court also indicated it would not accept at face value claims that prior owners within a corporate chain had truly relinquished all control. Prepared to look beyond corporate formalities, the judgment sets out useful pointers for...
Antitrust CMA seeking views on Google’s Privacy Sandbox changes The CMA has opened a call for input on Google’s intended changes to its ‘ Privacy Sandbox’ approach. On 11 February 2002, the CMA accepted binding commitments from Google under section 31A of the Competition Act 1998, aimed at tackling competition concerns tied to Google’s plan to withdraw third party cookies ( TPCs) in Chrome and to replace their functionality with a suite of ‘ Privacy Sandbox’ tools, while shifting key capabilities into Chrome. Those commitments included a pledge that Google would not remove TPCs until the CMA was satisfied that its competition worries had been resolved; if not, the CMA could take additional steps, such as re-opening its investigation and imposing interim measures as necessary in the meantime, if required......
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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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