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Legal Round Up
Commercial law - Bribery Act 2010 – Are you ready?
You must ensure that adequate measures are in place to protect your business in order to avoid committing an offence under the Bribery Act. Click here for more information on the Bribery Act 2010.
Data Sharing
A data sharing code was recently launched by the Information Commission Office (“ICO”). Data sharing affects any company that is sharing data across its organisation. It impinges on data protection and having adequate policies and procedures in place. If in doubt whether or not your company/business is compliant, you MUST conduct an audit of your practices. More
Use of Cookies – Have you Updated your Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions?
Recently the law has changed and all website owners that use cookies must obtain consent from any person using their website. This has created a huge debate because if a website, for instance, uses Google Analytics, the cookies start loading as soon as the browser is accessed. This raises the question, how does one obtain consent?
The ICO is looking into this area and has given a 12 months’ grace period for website owners to take the necessary steps. You MUST act during this period or you will be prosecuted as the ICO now has powers to prosecute. Please note that simply making changes to browsers is not enough to comply.
Commercial Law – Misleading Advertising – You Risk Prosecution
Trading Standards are cracking down on companies in relation to misleading advertising, particularly on websites. Trading Standards have the power to prosecute directors/owners of businesses if their advertising is misleading. Dorset Trading Standards brought eight charges against two brothers relating to misleading advertising under The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, and the brothers were found guilty on all counts and were disqualified as company directors for five years and imprisoned for 13 months. More
Under the Advertising Regulations, you are required to conduct due diligence on your advertising. There is an added complication because this obligation now extends to marketing material on your websites, Google Adwords and on social networking sites. We can conduct a review of your Websites and marketing material to ensure that you are compliant.
Employment Law – Enhanced Redundancy Entitlement can be subject to a Compromise Agreement
The courts have ruled that if an employer is offering an employee an enhanced redundancy pay, the employer has the right to demand that the employee signs a compromise agreement.
Employment Law – New Minimum Wage
The National Minimum wage rates will be increasing from 1 October 2011. The adult rate will increase from £5.93 to £6.08 an hour. For a summary of the increases click here.
Employment Law – New Statutory Pay Rates
The current employment payment rates are:
- Statutory Sick Pay will increase from £79.15 to £81.60;
- The standard rates applicable for (i) Statutory Maternity Pay, (ii) Statutory Paternity Pay and (iii) Statutory Adoption Pay, will increase from £124.88 to £128.73; and
- Maternity allowance will increase from £124.88 to £128.73.
Employment Law – Equality Act 2010 – Are you Compliant?
The provisions of the Equality Act 2010, which came into force on 1 October 2010, require businesses to take action to ensure compliance with employment law. If you are an employer, your handbooks and workplace policies MUST be fully updated to take account of the changes in the law ensuring that you also adopt good practices right across your organisation. See the launch of our Employment Best Practice Service.
Internet & Data Protection – Privacy Policies
Every organisation that processes individuals’ data must have a privacy policy in place. This obligation has become increasingly important where children’s data are being collected by an organisation. Your privacy policy MUST be revised if you are using cookies on your Website.
Intellectual Property – Trade mark Infringement - Comparative Advertising
We are constantly asked whether comparative advertising is permitted under the law. The answer is yes, however, there are restrictions. Under the Comparative Advertising Directive, lawful comparative advertising does not infringe a registered trade mark and will not amount to trade mark infringement.
In the recent case of Kingspan v Rockwool [2011],the High Court ruled on whether comparative advertising satisfied the Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive 2006/114/EC (“MCA”). More
Intellectual Property – Patents – Generic Companies
The recent decision in the case of Cephalon Inc v. Orchid Europe [2011] may be the first signs that the UK are about to remove the burden on generic pharmaceutical companies to “clear the way” before launching a generic pharmaceutical product. To find out more on this case and what ‘clearing the way’ is, click here.
Intellectual Property – Passing Off & Trade Mark Infringement
A growing “zero tolerance” approach to passing off and trade mark infringement is being adopted by rights owners and is forcing organisations to consider their branding carefully before launching a new brand or marketing an existing brand, in order to avoid a passing off action or trade mark infringement action by the rights owner.
For more Legal Updates, please click here.
© RT Coopers, 2011 | 
