Patents reward originality, and inventions that are obvious developments on pre-existing designs do not qualify for protection, however successful they may be. In a ground-breaking case on point, patent protection was denied in respect of a one-man invention which revolutionised the garden hose market. An
It is a fundamental feature of any free society that justice must be done in public, but how does that principle sit with the right of individuals not to have sensitive details of their private lives exposed to the public glare? The Employment Appeal Tribunal
Breaching a planning enforcement notice is a serious offence and landlords should take careful note of a case in which a property owner was stripped of over £500,000 in rent paid on a house which had been converted into 12 flats without planning consent. After
There is a powerful public interest in parties to contracts having the freedom to agree how any disputes between them should be resolved. That principle underpinned the Court of Appeal’s ruling that a dispute arising from a property company’s brief removal from the Register of
Proving a case often requires commercially sensitive documents to be placed before a judge in a public court. In the context of a debt recovery action, the Court of Appeal gave guidance on where the balance should be struck between confidentiality rights and the overriding
Repairing an asset is one thing, replacing it another, and distinguishing between the two is of critical importance when it comes to calculating Corporation Tax (CT) liabilities. The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) gave guidance on where the line should be drawn in a case concerning extensive
Employment bonuses are often paid on an open-handed ad hoc basis without regard to formality. As an employment case strikingly showed, however, such arrangements tend to create high expectations which cannot easily be met during downturns in business. The case concerned a senior employee of
How, if at all, is the duty of local authorities to allow children in their care reasonable contact with their parents affected by social distancing rules arising from the COVID-19 pandemic? The Court of Appeal confronted that issue in a guideline case. The case concerned
Holidaymakers who suffer accidents abroad can face an uphill struggle to obtain just compensation, but specialist English lawyers are happily well equipped to rise to the challenge. In one case, a woman who was injuried when she tripped over a sun lounger at a hotel
The origins of small sports and social clubs are often shrouded in the mists of time and, if they cease to function, issues can arise as to what should be done with their assets. In the case of a defunct railway workers’ club, the High
