December/January 2011/2012

Ever wondered why that obviously fake, self-righteous review of your company’s service, sits stubbornly underneath your carefully manicured LinkedIn page? Or why that obscure blog attacking your CEO sits firmly on page one of your company’s Google search? Welcome to the murky world of online reputation warfare. Since the dawn of the online search engine, …

Continue reading “How to deal with online conspirators: a sticky problem
”

While we’re all accustomed to accusations of ‘smear campaigns’ and underhand tactics being bandied about in the political arena, we are seeing more examples of both companies and private individuals becoming the victims of such campaigns. They are often well-organised, well-funded, multi-jurisdictional in reach and with the express aim of causing maximum damage to the …

Continue reading “The law of conspiracy: dirty tricks, corporate rivals and brand attacks”

In comparison with some other countries, the English court system operates relatively quickly. However, litigation in this jurisdiction still takes time. As a very rough guideline, and depending on the division where proceedings are issued, a commercial dispute of any complexity is likely to take 12-18 months to reach trial (from the date when proceedings …

Continue reading “Factors to be taken into account when considering an application for an expedited trial”

Ever since the 1980s, when the Domain name system was introduced, opportunistic entrepreneurs have conducted a profitable trade in domain names – a domain name being the alpha-numeric string that follows the ‘@’ in an email address and the ‘www’ in a web address. This article provides an update on domain name complaints and valuable …

Continue reading “Domain name complaints”

In this article we identify some of the intellectual property issues that will be of importance for anyone involved in technology development in the Middle East, particularly in the context of the many initiatives, largely government financed, that have been undertaken in the region to create a fertile ground for that development.

Following protracted considerations by various parts of the EU legislature, the EU Council of Ministers adopted a new Consumer Rights Directive on 10 October 2011. As can be seen below, the terms 
of this new Consumer Rights Directive 
will have a direct effect on the online operations of traders based in the UK 
and across …

Continue reading “Consumer Rights Directive: the online shopper strikes back?”

The Indian economy, though not as well developed as many of its western counterparts, has always been typified by its entrepreneurial nature. For a foreign investor familiar with the Indian commercial landscape, the Indian promoter is a very recognisable figure. While some of the world’s richest promoters are Indian, India also has a very robust …

Continue reading “FDI in MSM enterprises: sound documentation equals sound protection”

Restricted certificates of sponsorship: the system of applying for restricted certificates of sponsorship was introduced on 6 April 2011. Restricted certificates are required by overseas nationals who will be employed on a salary of less than £150,000 per annum and who are currently living overseas.


It seems that every day brings a news report of corporate wrongdoing or control failures somewhere in the world – rogue traders, corruption, fraud, tax evasion, price fixing, environmental disasters and export control issues.


In this article, we review case law from South Australia Asset Management Company Ltd v York Montague Ltd [1997] to Rubenstein v HSBC Bank Plc [2011] to examine the current approach to assessing loss in economically volatile times. Assessing recoverable loss in tort claims is sometimes a knotty problem. Breach of a duty of care can …

Continue reading “Assessing recovery of loss in tort claims during an economic downturn”