The UK Intellectual Property Office has refused an application by Chanel to register the word ‘Jersey’ as a trade mark on the ground that, as a geographical term, it would not be appropriate to deny its availability to other businesses…
Local authorities are not always as thorough as they should be when obtaining and evaluating information on which their decisions on child welfare are based, as a recent case shows. It involved a couple who went to court after their…
Following a consultation exercise, the Government has announced changes to the automatic enrolment rules aimed at making it easier for employers to enrol their workers into a pension scheme. Auto-enrolment is being introduced in gradual stages, with the date an…
In a ruling which underlines that ageism, unlike other forms of discrimination, can be objectively justified, a civil service worker who received a much smaller payment on taking voluntary redundancy than she would have done had she been 10 years…
In a stern reminder of the strict duties of good faith and fidelity owed by directors to the companies they work for, a businessman who leached business opportunities and key staff from his employers has been taken to task by…
A veteran fund manager who brought down the wrath of his former employer when he resigned and moved to a competitor has been issued with an injunction holding him to a ‘garden leave’ covenant in his contract. The High Court…
The case concerning the use of a competitor’s name in ‘keyword’ marketing for Internet searches has now been decided and the ruling has implications for those who use such practices. The dispute involved Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Interflora. M&S…
A couple who engaged a contractor to carry out work on their house have succeeded in their claim against the architect in respect of the cost of putting right defects in the contractor’s work. The couple bought a five-storey house…
When a Spanish company entered into a lending agreement with another company, the ultimate purpose of which was to facilitate a property development in the Strand in London, the downturn in the economy and other factors caused the lender to…
A man who worked as a machine operator for many years has won compensation after suffering damage to his hearing. Oswald Grant, from Pudsey in West Yorkshire, began working at Yorkshire Imperial Metals (YIM) in 1963. He initially worked as…