Legal News

PSN Recruitment Ltd (trading as Cosmopolitan) v Ludley and Greenscape Specialist Recruitment Ltd [2023] EWHC 3153 ( IPEC)) What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment strengthens established principles on confidentiality and the law of confidence, and clarifies how protected confidential material should be assessed and categorised. Whilst it cannot be presumed that any client database is automatically confidential, a significant line of authority indicates that lists containing active and target client contact details typically satisfy the requirements for confidence, and this ruling now further endorses that stance. The decision also highlights the need for parties to provide full cooperation to the court and to avoid obstructive conduct, reflected both in the approach to the damages award and, more broadly, in Her Honour Judge Clarke’s remarks on the defendant’s behaviour and conduct throughout. In particular, Ludley’s destruction of evidence and his breach of the duty owed to...

On 23 February 2024, the DWP said it was inviting broad industry views on what it calls surplus extraction. This permits workplace pension schemes to deploy assets exceeding those needed to cover liabilities to enhance member benefits or strengthen the sponsoring employer. The consultation, part of the government’s wider productive finance agenda, is aimed at unlocking the retirement market—often described as a sleeping giant—to channel more capital into the domestic economy. Official data released on 15 February 2024, firmly confirmed that the UK had slipped into a technical recession, with gross domestic product declining for a second successive quarter overall......

In 2022, the Court of Justice disposed of just under 30 intellectual property appeals, yet in 2023 it heard only four. Commentators in the field cannot pinpoint the cause of this decline, and the slowdown is ill-timed as practitioners press the top courts for guidance on live issues. Richard May of Osborne Clarke LLP cautioned that, without a steady flow of CJEU rulings, confidence in particular points of law will ebb. Conflicting Decisions Consequently, for all but a small number of trade mark matters, the EU’s General Court stands as the only forum outside the European Intellectual Property Office ( EUIPO), and diverging outcomes have left certain areas of doctrine less clear than lawyers would wish. Moreover, the General Court has itself been taking fewer appeals from EUIPO decisions, increasing the strain on the Board of Appeal as the final destination for a growing share of trade mark...

R (on the application of Together Against Sizewell C Ltd) v Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and another company [2023] EWCA Civ 1517 What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling is notable in light of the pressing requirement for additional nuclear generating capacity highlighted in the energy national policy statements, alongside EN-6’s identification of Sizewell C as a potentially suitable location for new nuclear development. The judgment’s treatment of how utilities infrastructure necessary for a major project should be evaluated has wider significance beyond this scheme. The court rejected the appellant’s stance that utilities infrastructure must be incorporated within the development itself, finding that approach could induce a ‘sclerosis in the planning system’. Decision-making on the main scheme would then be held up pending a utility provider’s choice of preferred method of supplying water,...

On 22 February 2024, TPR confirmed that a suite of new functions, due to go live in April 2024, has been shaped for a shifting landscape that brings fresh risks and openings for savers. Among these is a regulatory compliance function, which TPR said will safeguard savers’ interests through the ‘effective and efficient’ delivery of compliance services aimed at schemes and employers. TPR added it will seek to lift market standards via targeted engagement with schemes under a new market oversight function, concentrating on delivering value for money and strong trusteeship. It also plans to introduce a strategy, policy and analysis function, through which TPR will draw on insights from its activities to refine the regulatory framework and back so-called market innovation......

The American software behemoth unveiled the transaction in January 2022, and by May 2023 had already obtained EU merger clearance for the acquisition. However, when Microsoft was labelled a 'gatekeeper' under the DMA on 6 September 2023, the deal had not yet been completed. The acquisition finally completed in full on 13 October 2023. The Commission has already disclosed a filing from Apple......

In September 2021, the MHRA opened a consultation (see: LNB News 16/09/2021 90) to reform the UK’s medical device regulatory regime. The government issued its detailed reply in June 2022 (see: LNB News 27/06/2022 48), yet no tangible changes have followed. In January 2024, the MHRA set out a comprehensive Roadmap, with timelines, charting the move towards the future regulatory framework for medical devices, alongside updated guidance on putting forthcoming regulations into practice (see: LNB News 09/01/2024 30)... No indication of substantive changes to the 2022 regulatory proposals The key message is that there appears to be no major deviation in substance from the government’s detailed 2022 stance. That said, the publications were not accompanied by draft regulations. The ‘ Core Regulations’—which will deliver the principal substantive updates, such as changes to the classification of certain device types, clarification of what is required of...

While the EU AI Act is not meant to interfere with copyright matters, the leaked draft recognises data’s vital role in building AI systems and introduces tailored requirements and constraints to balance innovation with copyright and related rights. In doing so, it mirrors the EU copyright framework, particularly the ‘commercial’ text and data mining ( TDM) exception in Article 4 of Directive ( EU) 2019/790 (‘ EU DSM Copyright Directive’). Guided by the recitals and the Act’s specific provisions, the following principles apply: Adherence to copyright law—providers of general-purpose AI models in the EU market must comply with EU copyright and related rights and, in particular, identify and honour reservations of rights expressed by right holders under the EU DSM Copyright Directive, regardless of where copyright-relevant training took place (recitals 60i–j) Copyright policy—providers must adopt a policy to respect EU copyright law, including...

Cotham School v Bristol City Council and others [2024] EWHC 154 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? In relation to a public authority appearing twice in the same proceedings while exercising distinct functions, the court applied the principle in Hardie & Lane Ltd v Chiltern ( Tort) [1928] 1 K. B. 663 and Allnutt v Wilding [2006] EWHC 1905 ( Ch), [2006] BTC 8040 (unreported by Lexis Nexis®UK), [2006] 7 WLUK 723 (unreported by Lexis Nexis®UK). The court confirmed this rule extends across all civil litigation, including the present dispute, and covers situations where the same party appears more than once as claimant, as defendant, or on opposing sides of the record in the same action. As a matter of principle, it was not defensible to argue the rule is displaced because statutory authorities are separate legal persons, distinct from the...

HMRC v IPS Progression Ltd [2024] UKFTT 136 ( TC) IPS contended, without success, that the ILO bonus represented a loan to be repaid once the individual ultimately received a bonus. The FTT instead concluded that: IPS never truly intended to run a bonus scheme or pay bonuses to staff, had no plan to recover the ILO bonus amounts from employees, and the employees did not expect to repay them it was questionable whether the ILO bonus payments were loans at all whatever their legal character—loan, earnings or bonus—the payments served no purpose other than to provide a purported justification for not paying tax on part of employees’ earnings The FTT also held the arrangements were notifiable under DOTAS as they amounted to a standardised product. IPS dictated standardised paperwork that required no material tailoring to apply across more than 1,500...

Private actions Court of Appeal dismisses DAF’s appeal regarding the first Trucks cartel damages claim The Court of Appeal delivered its judgment in Royal Mail Group Ltd v DAF Trucks Ltd and others and BT Group PLC and others v DAF Trucks and others, an appeal pursued by DAF Trucks Limited and other DAF companies ( DAF) against the CAT’s 7 February 2023 judgment, which had upheld follow-on claims issued by Royal Mail and BT against DAF on the footing of the European Commission’s 2016 settlement decision in Trucks ( AT.39824). Handing down its decision, the Court of Appeal dismissed DAF’s appeal. This was the first UK case to proceed to trial stemming from the Commission’s 2016 decision. In its 7 February 2023 judgment, the CAT found that DAF’s infringement of Article 101 TFEU had ultimately caused both claimants loss in the form of an...

The Competition Appeal Tribunal threw out Walter Merrick’s assertion of a ‘causal link’ between cross‑ European charges and prices paid in the United Kingdom, dampening not just his hopes but those of the 46 million consumers he fronted. The dispute stems from the European Commission’s 2007 ruling that Mastercard had infringed EU competition rules by the manner in which it levied so‑called multilateral interchange fees on merchants. “ We therefore dismiss the [class representative’s] contention that the [ European Economic Arena] MIFs set during the infringement period… exerted any material causative effect, as alleged, on the level of interchange fees—bilateral or multilateral—applicable to UK domestic transactions,” wrote Judge Peter Roth in the 74‑page judgment for the purposes of the claim advanced by Mr Merrick therein......

Mergers The Commission has authorised the acquisition of joint control of GGW Group Gmb H by Permira Holdings Limited ( M.11431) after a phase I review—see further, Midday Express. The Commission also received notifications in: CIP/ Miescor/ PHPL/ PHC ( M.11497) (simplified merger procedure) OJI/ Walki ( M.11397) (simplified merger procedure) Commitments were submitted in relation to the Commission’s phase II inquiry into IAG/ Air Europa ( M.11109)—see further, the case page. NOTE— For all live merger investigations before the Commission, see further, EU mergers—ongoing cases tracker Upcoming dates For dates of forthcoming EU competition developments, see further, EU Competition calendar......

Insurance M& A hits ten-year low amid political uncertainty The law firm reported that 346 insurance sector deals were completed worldwide in 2023, a decline from 449 recorded in the previous year. It was also the weakest tally seen since 2013, when 19 transactions were signed. Peter Hodgins, a partner at Clyde & Co LLP, noted that, for many insurers, it is increasingly difficult to secure finance for deals as companies across the globe wrestle with inflation......

Uni Credit Bank GMBH (a company incorporated under the laws of Germany) v Ruschemalliance LLC (a company incorporated under the laws of the Russian Federation) [2024] EWCA Civ 64 What are the practical implications of this case? The judgment introduces greater coherence to the previously varied approaches in recent decisions involving western claimants seeking ASIs against Russian counterparties in support of foreign-seated arbitration agreements. ASIs have now been awarded to the claimants in each of those matters and, moreover, the Court of Appeal has issued authoritative guidance at appellate level on how the English courts should handle such applications (this being a fully argued appeal, whereas Deutsche Bank v Ruschemalliance LLC [2023] EWCA Civ 1144 was ex parte). While parties considering comparable applications in Russia-related disputes may take reassurance from this, the route to the UK Supreme Court ( UKSC) remains available....

Market studies CMA publishes final report on housebuilding market duty; finds fundamental concerns The CMA has released its concluding report on the housebuilding market in Great Britain, setting out its position to government on possible remedies and its decision not to issue a market investigation reference under section 131 of the Enterprise Act 2002. It concludes that the sector is underperforming for consumers. Completions of new homes have persistently missed government targets. Too few properties are delivered, particularly in the places where demand is greatest, undermining affordability. The report also flags worries about the standard of new-build housing and the slow pace of innovation. According to the CMA, these unsatisfactory results are chiefly driven by how the planning systems operate and by the constraints inherent in speculative private development. Overall, the market is not delivering the homes people need, in the locations where they are most...

Facts [2023] EWHC 3269 ( Comm) The dispute stemmed from two crude oil sale and purchase agreements between the applicant, Premier, as seller, and the defendant, Shell, as buyer (the Contracts). Each contained a comprehensive and, for relevant purposes, identical pricing formula under which the price was to be determined, among other matters, by reference to “the average of the high and low daily quotations for Urals Rotterdam versus Med Dated Brent Strip as published in Platts ( AAGXJ00)” (the Urals Assessment). The Contracts also stipulated that, if Platts implemented a material modification to the heading or contents of assessments relied upon in the pricing structure (including the Urals Assessment), the parties would agree an alternative pricing source. If they failed to reach agreement, a referee would be appointed to select the alternative source. Following the imposition of European sanctions on Russia, Platts made a...

In addition to the stories covered in full in the Financial Services news feed on 26 February 2024 Subscribers may wish to note the following additional updates and notices: EU Council affirms the renewal of Jose Manuel Campa as Chairperson of the EBA FCA: Decision Notice: Any Automotive Limited FCA: Decision Notice: MJL Focus Marketing Ltd Alongside our regular daily and weekly alerts, Financial Services subscribers can opt in to intraday updates at midday and at the end of the day, providing a summary in real time of the latest financial services developments that have occurred that day. If you would like to receive these intraday alerts, please email...

In November 2023, a poll of 200 financial advisers who took part in the study by research consultancy Next Wealth with Aegon UK reported 71% said clients feared exhausting their pension pot, making it the foremost worry for people seeking professional advice on saving for retirement. Additionally, 64% cited inflation and the cost of living crisis as pressing issues of concern, and 49% noted clients were anxious about long-term care expenses. It is unsurprising indeed that fears about long-term care costs appear among the top three concerns for retirement clients, said Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon UK......

Mergers The Commission approved the takeover granting joint control over Wesco Aircraft Holdings, Inc. to Allianz SE and Silver Point Capital, L. P.......