News
Jul
29
Ferrari Faces the Music – Legality
This is a reprint of an Article published in Autosport on 29 July 2010 AUTOSPORT consulted leading European business law firm Miller Rosenfalck to look at the issues. Motorsport specialist John Kenneally responded How Strong Is The Evidence? Apparently engineer Rob Smedley saying sorry to Felipe Massa over the radio swayed the stewards. Smedley later indicated that it was merely an expression of his disappointment that Massa’s chances of winning had suffered a setback when he was... Read More »
Jul
13
Gender Diversity in the Boardroom
Following changes made by the Financial Reporting Council to the UK Corporate Governance Code (the ‘Code’) company boards have to take gender diversity into account when appointing directors. The Code applies for listed companies to financial years which begun on or after 29 June 2010 and will create pressure for companies to appoint women directors. Further, directors of FTSE 350 companies have to be put up for re-election by shareholders every year in order to increase... Read More »
Jun
28
Ash Cloud Relief for Non-Residents
HM Revenue and Customs have announced that non-UK resident persons who remained in the UK due to disruption of their travel plans because of the volcanic ash cloud and who, as a result, spent more than 90 days in the UK at one time, will not be treated as becoming UK resident for income tax purposes as a result. However, if the effect is to make the person exceed the annual limit of 183 days, UK residence will be... Read More »
Jun
28
Digital Economy Act 2010
Digital Economy Act 2010 As part of the pre-election ‘wash-up’, the Digital Economy Bill was passed into law, bringing with it the right for the Secretary of State to create secondary legislation to require Internet Service Providers to take ‘technical measures’ against subscribers who infringe the Intellectual Property (IP) rights of others by downloading files. Jeremy Hunt, the new Minister for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport has confirmed that the new Government has no current... Read More »
Jun
28
New Company Name Check Facility
On 28 April, Companies House introduced a new ‘Company Name Availability Search’ as part of its WebCHeck service, which will return the ‘same as’ matches as defined in the Companies Act 2006. This will allow anyone wanting to set up a company to ascertain straight away whether the company name they are considering using is likely to be available. If so, don’t forget to check that the appropriate Internet domain name is also available! The new facility can be found... Read More »
Jun
28
Patent Opinion
If you are considering bringing an action on a patent infringement matter, you might like to start by obtaining an independent opinion. For £200, the UK Intellectual Property Office offers a service of reviewing the issues under dispute and giving an opinion on infringement or validity of a patent. The service is intended to help you negotiate a settlement or decide whether to commence full legal proceedings. See website for further... Read More »