DLA Piper (LexBlog United Kingdom)

Written by: Sarah Turner, Liam Blackford, Bridie Barton On 20 December 2023, the UK Supreme Court handed down its long awaited judgment in Thaler v. Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, dismissing Stephen Thaler’s appeal and upholding the decision of the Court of Appeal. While the result is not surprising, this decision is likely to be influential...

By: John Forrest, Chloe Barker, Lydia Rogers On 25 February 2022, the EU agreed its 10th package of sanctions measures. The measures have been introduced via amendments made to a number of existing regulations. What are the key practical implications for Israeli companies doing business with or supplying goods or contingent services to Russia? A summary...

The Directors of the UK Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) and the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Giles Thomson and Andrea Gacki, have announced, via a joint press statement1, the details of the conclusion of a ‘multi-day technical exchange’ and an enhanced OFSI and OFAC partnership. They noted that the partnership is...

The US Supreme Court will rehear Servotronics Inc. v. Rolls-Royce PLC, Case No. 19-1847 (7th Cir. 2020), in which the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that 28 U.S.C. § 1782 does not include international arbitration proceedings. As noted in our prior alert, the Seventh Circuit, in its September 2020 decision, declined Servotronics’ request for discovery assistance...

The Final Deal Welcome to this last edition of Boardroom Brexit, marking the end of the negotiations and the agreement of a new trade deal, the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). In this edition, we summarise the impact of the deal on all aspects of business operations in one place – please use the...

By: Richard Woolich |David Thompson |Jesse Dalton An important area of focus for businesses – especially given the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 lockdown – will be maintaining or improving cashflow, especially in the short term. Those businesses with substantial real estate may look at sale and leaseback transactions. But, for many, debt finance will be...

The rapidly changing impact of COVID-19 on companies and the wider economy presents directors with the unenviable task of balancing the immediate need to secure the survival of their company against the longer-term implications for their stakeholders. In March, the UK Government announced that wrongful trading measures would be temporarily suspended to ease this pressure....

By: John Wilks and Ella Castle Continuing their focus on the online gambling sector during lockdown, the UK Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) have published an Advice Note to all GB-licensed gambling operators in relation to ads on social media for eSports betting. The advice makes it clear that eSports betting-related advertising must comply with...

The UK government has published its coronavirus COVID-19 action plan, which recognises the virus as a “significant challenge for the entire world.” Although a lot is yet unknown about the virus, the World Health Organisation declared it a public health emergency of international concern. The situation is rapidly evolving and the UK government estimates that “in...

On 9 January, the Withdrawal Agreement finally passed through House of Commons, without much fanfare, by 330 votes to 231 and now Brexit has been fixed for 31 January 2020. The enactment of the Withdrawal Agreement provides a fixed timeline for EU nationals and their family members to apply for the right to remain in...

1. Brexit will now happen The UK will leave the European Union (EU) at 11.00 pm on Friday 31 January 2020. The UK Government’s 80-seat majority in the House of Commons (the Commons) means the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (the Bill), the legislation necessary to make the Withdrawal Agreement legally effective in the UK, will pass....

The Boris Johnson immigration tag line has long been that under his leadership the UK will have an “Australian-style Points Based System”. Now the election results have been counted and it has been confirmed that Boris will continue his tenure in 10 Downing Street, what can be expected from an “Australian-style points based immigration system”...

The latest issue of Boardroom Brexit covers developments since the election of Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative party and, as a consequence, his replacement of Theresa May as the UK’s new prime minister. In this issue we: outline the new government’s Brexit strategy; run through the possible outcomes to the Brexit negotiations, and...

By: Claire Sng I had the rare opportunity last week to put some questions directly to Guy Parker, the ASA’s Chief Executive, during a Q&A session at an industry conference on Advertising and Marketing Law. I asked two questions relating to influencers and transparency of social media posts. This clearly remains a critical issue for...

By Paul Hardy, Richard Bonnar and Jeroen Jansen In another frenetic week, UK politicians again failed to find a majority for the Brexit options laid out in “indicative votes” in Parliament and Theresa May, the UK prime minister, opened discussions with Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour party. May has asked the EU...

A report by DLA Piper and YouGov More than half (58%) of respondents in DLA Piper study say their UK real estate investment strategy will be unaffected by CGT 43% of investors will wait until new rules clarified before assessing ownership structure of their holdings Despite potential headwinds, London retains #1 attractiveness ranking among international cities...

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) last week adopted a paper clarifying the position in relation to data transfers between the EU and UK in the event of a no deal Brexit. The EDPB confirmed that if the UK exits the EU without a deal, then with effect from 30 March 2019 the UK will...

The Government’s achingly slow progress in implementing many of the key recommendations of the Taylor Review means that some of the proposals may be in danger of slipping from many employers’ radars. Indeed, a whole year has passed since the Government published its response to the Taylor Review (which itself was published in July 2017). Employers should be aware...

By: John Wilks, Claire Sng and Sophie Anim Background The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has announced, following its investigation (see our earlier article available here), that it has secured commitments from 16 social media influencers about how they post online (see link to CMA press release here). The influencers, including singer Rita Ora and...

Andrew Dyson and Robyn Palmer, from the UK Data Protection, Privacy and Security practice, explain how GDPR has led to “The Rise of the Data Protection Officer” in Israeli companies, for an article in Calcalist. Click here to read the full article.  

Richard Bonnar, Paul Hardy and Jeroen Jansen summarize the 10 things you should understand about the Political Declaration on the future relationship between the EU and UK, agreed in Brussels on 25 November. Click here to read the article in full.

By: Richard Bonnar,  Paul Hardy and Jeroen Jansen We’ve been holding back on the next edition of Boardroom Brexit until there were concrete developments in the negotiations to report on. After a long wait, the UK and EU published the draft Withdrawal Agreement on 14 November 2018. At 585 pages long, the draft Withdrawal Agreement is a...

By Andrew Dyson and James Clark The UK government and the EU Commission have jointly published an agreement on the terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. The Withdrawal Agreement is in draft form and subject to approval by the UK Parliament and EU member states (which is far from certain to be forthcoming, in...

By John Wilks, Claire Sng and Ella Castle In the wake of GDPR, the UK’s Committee of Advertising Practice has amended the CAP Code to introduce new rules on the use of data for marketing. It has also launched a consultation on potential further rule changes relating to child marketing data and prizewinners. BACKGROUND As...

By John Wilks and Claire Sng Background The ASA has this week published new guidance for influencers about how to make their ads clear (see link here “Guidance”). This Guidance follows the ASA’s call for evidence in March 2018. This is a hot topic at the moment with: The European Commission having just published a report about...

By Claire Sng Yesterday at a conference hosted by the UK advertising regulator, the ASA, billed as “The future of ad regulation”, the ASA announced its new 5 year plan entitled “More impact online”, with an ambition of making every UK ad responsible (see link here). Reflecting on the change in landscape that has occurred, Guy...

Over 50 people attended our Blockchain Club Breakfast co-hosted with Yigal Arnon & Co. and iCapital.io at Rise Tel Aviv. Martin Bartlam, Head of DLA Piper’s International Finance and Projects Group and Global Co-Chair of the FinTech Group, spoke about Blockchain and ICO trends in the UK market, and Adrian Daniels, Partner at Yigal Arnon...

Please join us for a Blockchain program we are co-hosting on November 6th together with our friends at Yigal Arnon and iCapital. Martin Bartlam, Head of DLA Piper’s International Finance and Projects Group, will be speaking about “Blockchain and ICO trends in the UK market”, and there will be presentations by Adrian Daniels, Partner at Yigal...

DLA Piper is proud to sponsor The 8th Annual UK Real Estate Event on the subject of “UK Post BREXIT Real Estate Market: Current Trends and Opportunities” on 15 October. Speakers include DLA Piper partner Paul Jayson. For more information and to register, click here.

By Désirée Fields and Sam Mitchell Geographical Indications (GIs) are signs used on products in order to inform consumers about a product’s geographical origin and a quality, characteristic or reputation of the product linked to its place of origin. GIs such as Scotch Whiskey and Parmesan cheese, have generated significant value for EU farmers and...