-
Archives
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- May 2017
- January 2017
- December 2014
- September 2014
- June 2014
-
Meta
Yearly Archives: 2018
HMRC error may mean over-payment of tax by non-resident trustees
HMRC failed to apply the 7.5% basic rate dividend tax credit to non-resident trustees in the tax year 2016/17. HMRC has confirmed that it is aware of the issue and that it has resolved the problem for the 2017/18 trust tax calculations, but has not yet confirmed how it intends to respond.These oversights demonstrate the importance of reviewing self assessment tax returns carefully. It is critical that non-resident trustees take appropriate advice if they feel that they may have been exposed to the error. When even HMRC are prone to such lapses it really does highlight the increasing speed with which the offshore tax landscape has changed.
Posted in Shorter Reads
Comments Off on HMRC error may mean over-payment of tax by non-resident trustees
Land Registry’s digitisation of Local Land Charges extends
Previously where a Local Land Charges search was required by a purchaser of residential property, it was requested from the relevant Local Authority as part of a Local Authority search.Depending on the Local Authority, this can take weeks to arrive and the Land Registry is therefore looking to modernise and use technology to provide quicker and simpler services for home-buyers. As part of this, anyone requiring a Local Land Charges search will soon need to head to the Land Registry’s online portal to obtain this information – although the bulk of the search (being the Local Authority Search) will still need to be done by the Local Authority.This week Liverpool City Council has been migrated over to the Land Registry, alongside Warwick District Council (who migrated on 11 July 2018).Next up is the City of London Corporation who are due to migrate on 8 October 2018. Seeing how well the Land Registry deals with requests from this particular area may well determine whether or not this scheme is being considered a success.
Posted in Shorter Reads
Comments Off on Land Registry’s digitisation of Local Land Charges extends
Ofcom has fined Royal Mail £50 million for abuse of dominance
The fine follows a complaint made by Whistl after Royal Mail changed its wholesale customer contracts in 2014. At the time, Whistl (then known as TNT) was expanding its business to compete with Royal Mail in the delivery of business letters (“bulk mail”) in some parts of the UK. The contract change increased the prices Whistl had to pay Royal Mail to deliver such letters in the parts of the UK that Whistl did not itself cover. As a result, Whistl decided to suspend its plans to extend its bulk mail delivery.Royal Mail has indicated it will challenge the decision. For its part, Whistl is seeking damages. If the decision is not overturned, Whistl will be spared the need to prove Royal Mail’s liability in the litigation, as Ofcom’s decision will be binding on the Court.Such “follow-on” damages actions by victims of anticompetitive conduct are becoming increasingly popular. At present, the breach of competition law which is spawning by far the most follow-on actions is the price-fixing agreement by Europe’s leading truck manufacturers. The first action in England against the trucks cartel was brought by … Royal Mail.
Posted in Shorter Reads
Comments Off on Ofcom has fined Royal Mail £50 million for abuse of dominance
Justice for the few
So the outgoing President of the Family Division is throwing in the towel on access to justice, unless you have money. How depressing. There have been many straws in the wind – such as his enthusiasm for rolling out the online Family Court. The President has talked previously about people not being able to afford to travel to court so online access to justice can do the job instead. Apparently. Relying on one-size-fits-all online advice is quite dangerous, by the way, made worse by users being lulled into a false sense of security in thinking they’ve avoided all the pitfalls. Now the President is encouraging the use of private FDRs. FDR stands for Financial Dispute Resolution and is a useful judge-led stage in the court process when a judge acts as a sounding board to tell the couple in front of him how he’d deal with their financial dispute if he’d been their trial judge. If they don’t settle, he has no further involvement in the case. It worked well for a number of years but the chaos in the courts (no judge/no court file/hanging around all day at court and being told at 4pm that there isn’t going to be a judge) has already prompted lawyers acting for wealthy clients to appoint a good well-prepared, usually ex-judge, to give clients this non-binding indication. They pay him or her, choose a private location (not in a public waiting room with three other families, or crouched around their files in the stairwell to get a bit of privacy) and it’s often successful, leading to an agreement that’s then approved by an actual sitting judge. Good for them. But it’s an indication of failure, not innovation.This is the sub text:1. The courts are incapable of delivering justice to the public because of the catastrophic cuts to the Ministry of Justice budget. And that includes the decimation of legal aid so that those who can’t afford lawyers have no hope of getting proper advice and representation and their cases take up far more time when they do get to Court.2. Those who have money can afford to buy access to justice. Although money has always given an edge to those in possession of it, there’s no longer any attempt to hide it.Imagine Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health, announcing enthusiastically that people can sign up to BUPA and take themselves off to private hospitals for privately paid operations. Because each operation paid for privately would “free up NHS resources to deal, sooner or more fully, with minor and more serious operations that demand the skills of a surgeon employed by the NHS”. Precisely.
Posted in Shorter Reads
Comments Off on Justice for the few
Breaking Point for KitKat?
KitKats may have been helping people take breaks since 1935, but the European Court of Appeal would not give Nestlé a break as they refused to register as a trademark the 3D shape of the chocolate bar. The arguably iconic four-fingered shape of the KitKat underpins their tear and snap ad campaigns which have seen stars such as Jason Statham slice through the foil and snap off a finger. Nonetheless, the ‘four trapezoidal bars aligned on a rectangular base’ as it was snappily put, can be recreated by other confectioners.The Court held that, although the shape of the KitKat bar is well known, most consumers would not recognise the four-finger chocolate bar without the KitKat logo or packaging and that the consumer is more likely to be influenced by the brand name on the bar and the wrapper than solely the shape.Nestlé has spent over a decade fighting the trademark dispute, which the likes of Cadbury have opposed. The shape is protected in Australia, Canada and South Africa, and following four years of back-and-forth was registered as a trademark in the EU until rivals opposed the registration. In 2007, the case came to court, and this week’s decision saw Nestlé’s appeal thrown out and the EU Trademark office ordered to reconsider its decision, annulling KitKat’s claim.The mark is now in the hands of the EU Trademark office and it is likely that it will be removed from the register for now, as there is not sufficient evidence that the shape is distinctive across all EU member states. This leaves scope for own-brand imitations, and allows less well known, identical bars such as Norway’s Kvikk Lunsk to continue production.The bar, four-fingers or not, has been set high in regards registering trademarks for 3D shapes. The Court has reiterated the need for distinctiveness in the shape alone, and not when considered with a logo and other branding.The KitKat case has shown that consumer awareness and knowledge and association of a shape with a brand is not enough for the Court to consider registering a 3D shape as trademark, and brands will have to show that their shape is distinct in order to stand a chance of registration.
Posted in Shorter Reads
Comments Off on Breaking Point for KitKat?
ICOs vs. PE and VC Funding: Which Funding Model is Best for a Growing Business?
Following Collyer Bristow’s ICO vs PE and VC Funding event in May the FinTech Times summarised the outcome of our dedicated panel. Chaired by our Partner and Head of FinTech Nigel Brahams, the panel on the PE and VC side …
Posted in Shorter Reads
Comments Off on ICOs vs. PE and VC Funding: Which Funding Model is Best for a Growing Business?
World Cup 2018 – Celebrating success!
After England spectacularly shot their way into the quarter finals this week, some of the players are likely to be eagerly awaiting cashing in on the success of the celebrations.England player Jesse Lingard applied for four trademarks with the UK Intellectual Property Office in the weeks leading up to the 2018 World Cup. These include one for the image of his goal celebration, in which he peers through the middle of his hands making the shape of his initials and three featuring his nickname ‘JLingz’. The trademarks themselves only include replication on clothing, footwear and headgear and not the performance itself. Therefore, should another aptly named player attempt his characteristic gesture, he would have no claim against them.Lingard’s pre-emptive application followed the likes of Gareth Bale who trademarked his famous ‘11 of Hearts’ celebration to use as a logo on a clothing brand, David Beckham who has trademarks such as ‘DB07’, ‘DB23’ and ‘BECKHAM’ and Christiano Ronaldo who trademarked ‘CR7’. Quit whilst you’re winning Players should however, be careful, as The International Football Association Board’s Law of the Game includes rules in regards to celebrations and provides that a player must be cautioned for certain acts. This includes excessive and/or choreographed celebrations, leaving the field, covering the head or face, provocative gestures, and also includes political, religious, advertising or personal slogans, statements or images. However, FIFA appears reluctant to reprimand players for celebrations under these rules.In the World Cup Qualifiers Australia’s Captain Tim Cahill, as he scored in the 109th minute in extra time against Syria, celebrated by pretending to be an airplane before making a T sign with his arms in reference to ‘TripADeal’, a travel company he had signed a promotion deal with. The celebration was followed up by a post on Instagram by the company and a tag by Cahill on his own page. Tim received no caution during the match, presumably because the referee was not wise to his subtle advertisement, but was arguably in breach of a number of the ‘Laws of the Game’, including Law 4 para 5 against advertising.This action led to some calls for changes to the rules to avoid referees being required to have knowledge of the player’s promotional endeavours in order to caution them during the game.The World Cup 2018 has also seen Columbia’s choreographed routine, Antoine Griezamann’s Fortnite celebration and a player from Belgium kick himself in the face. Further, Swiss players Xhaka and Shaqiri, both of Albanian heritage, celebrated in their match against Serbia by making a ‘double eagle’ gesture, which denotes a nationalist symbol associated with the Albanian Flag. Some considered that this celebration was an attempt to provoke the Serbian fans. FIFA opened proceedings against the pair under Article 54 of their Disciplinary Code, which provides that anyone who provokes the general public during a match will be suspended and fined, but concluded that neither had infringed with unsporting behaviour. Whether they’re building a personal brand, making a statement, or simply having some fun, it is safe to say we will not get bored of imaginative celebrations, especially if they are coming after our team’s winning goals.
Posted in Shorter Reads
Comments Off on World Cup 2018 – Celebrating success!
Evicting your tenant? Do so with caution
In the case of Smith v Khan it was held that Mrs Smith had a right to occupy a property by being lawfully married to the tenant, Mr Smith, and that she had been unlawfully evicted when Mr Khan, the landlord, re-entered and changed the locks to the property, preventing her from gaining further access. When determining the level of damages Mrs Smith should be awarded for trespass, the Court said that damages for trespass must compensate the tenant for the letting value of the property for which they have been deprived but also for the anxiety, inconvenience and mental stress involved in the loss of the tenant’s home. Reviewing similar cases (and also noting that Mrs Smith was forced to sleep on a friend’s floor for a number of months following her eviction), it determined that an appropriate daily rate for damages was £130 and that damages should be calculated from the date of the unlawful eviction until the expiry date of the fixed term as, on the facts of the case, the tenant would have been entitled to continue in occupation up until that date. Mrs Smith was awarded total damages of approximately £14,000.This case is a reminder that residential property owners should be extremely careful when taking steps to evict their tenants or any other occupier who might be entitled to possession and to seek legal advice prior to doing so. Failing to follow the correct procedure could result in very serious consequences, including a claim for a rather hefty sum of damages!
Posted in Shorter Reads
Comments Off on Evicting your tenant? Do so with caution
The assault on secrecy/privacy marches on
Rebel Conservative MPs have joined with the opposition to force the Government to impose beneficial ownership registers on the BVI, Cayman and Bermuda and other British Overseas Territories. This resurrects an initiative of David Cameron which Theresa May had put on the back-burner, but this U-turn by May demonstrates that the Government needs to save all its political capital for Brexit and is prey to random attacks on other issues. This is arguably bad law by a weak government, a constitutionally uncomfortable interference in the government of the BOTs, but the development is already being lauded by anti-corruption and some anti-poverty campaigners and those who take the other view, in defence of privacy, should take a moment to consider that this only extends offshore what now exists onshore in the EU and focus instead on how legitimate privacy and security can be protected within a world where the tide of transparency is unstoppable (Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man will be next).
Posted in Shorter Reads
Comments Off on The assault on secrecy/privacy marches on
The subsoil beneath…
In the recent case of Gorst & Anor v Knight [2018] EWHC 613 (Ch) the High Court held that the demise of a lower maisonette did not include the subsoil beneath it.The leasehold owners of the lower maisonette wished to develop the basement by extending downwards and applied to the landlord for consent to the proposed works. The landlord argued that the subsoil was excluded from the demise and it was therefore not under a duty to consider the leaseholders’ application, nor grant consent. The High Court accepted there is a presumption that a freehold interest in land, unless otherwise indicated, includes the airspace above and the subsoil below. However, it said no such presumption applies to leasehold land which is divided horizontally, so that whether it includes the airspace or subsoil will depend on a careful interpretation of the lease, particularly the description of the relevant demise. It said that, as the subsoil is key to the stability of the whole building, the question of whether a demise includes the subsoil is to be distinguished from the question of whether it includes the airspace.The High Court considered previous cases that have looked at the construction of contracts and said that when interpreting a lease, the court must ascertain the objective meaning of the language used. In doing so, it must consider the lease as a whole and may also take into account the factual background known to the parties at or before the date of the lease. The description of the lower maisonette expressly included the cellar and foundations. The court said this specific wording implied the subsoil was excluded from the demise. It said this was further supported by a reservation in the lease to the landlord to enter upon the land to repair the foundations should the tenant fail to do so and also to pass services through conduits “under” the demised premises. The court said these provisions of the lease also indicated a lower limit to the demise and that, consequently, the subsoil was not included in it.The judgment contains a useful summary of how the courts will approach interpreting a lease, particularly when determining whether the demise includes the subsoil. If a tenant intends to develop a property in such a way, it should carefully review the lease to ensure it will not be restricted from doing so.
Posted in Shorter Reads
Comments Off on The subsoil beneath…