The idea of masses of consumers galloping after shares of companies’ profits for anti-competitive behaviour has probably not been one which has been keeping corporate counsel awake at night. But the combination of (1) the new Consumer Rights Act; (2) a mature litigation funding market; and (3) the developing nature of antitrust enforcement, makes for …
The EU’s governing bodies recently reached an agreement on the text of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) after months of ongoing trilogue negotiations.
When British costume designer, Jenny Beavan, won the Oscar for her work in Mad Max: Fury Road at the 2016 Academy Awards, she said in her acceptance speech that the film could be ‘horribly prophetic if we’re not kind to each other, and if we don’t stop polluting the atmosphere’. Mad Max is set in …
Continue reading “Sustainability and IP: a match made in heaven?”
Naive or disgruntled employees frequently pose the greatest risk to cyber security and, more widely, protection of confidential information.
European businesses have always needed to tread carefully in relation to exporting personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA). This has never been more true than recently when data export became the biggest issue in data protection. The cat was set among the pigeons in October 2015 when the European Court of Justice (ECJ)invalidated …
Cyber security is a business imperative, and the reason is simple: the impact of a security breach can be severe. Any approach to cyber security must address each group that has access to the systems and data of a business, such as its customers, providers, affiliates and employees. This article is focused on the cyber …
Continue reading “Contracting for cyber security risks for customers”
It appears that the right time for a face lift is when the spirit needs a nuance of rejuvenation and the elements for doing so are all to hand. Similarly, as a brand is the face of an organisation the time for a ‘face lift’ of a business organisation is when opportunities present themselves and …
Continue reading “EU trade marks: when is the right time for a face lift?”
Warren Buffett famously said that: ‘It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.’ If anything, that underestimates the speed at which events move in the digital age. Significant, and sometimes irreparable, damage can be done in the time it takes to post an ill-judged tweet. This article provides a …
Continue reading “If you can’t beat them, join them: how and when to take on social media”
Where an agreement has an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) clause, it frequently has either a simple ADR clause or ‘escalation’ clauses (sometimes called ‘tiered’ or ‘stepped’ clauses). Then, where a commercial dispute arises, the parties to such an agreement are usually required to try to negotiate a settlement to the dispute. This could involve a …
Continue reading “Commercial dispute resolution clauses: be amicable or be friendly?”
As online advertising continues its rapid growth, online ad revenues become an ever more important opportunity (and/or threat) for many TMT businesses. How these growing markets are treated by antitrust agencies can be critical to strategy – either in terms of M&A or defending business models from the actions of other market participants. This article …
Continue reading “Antitrust treatment of online advertising markets”