Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, has signalled a further change in direction concerning the way the new Government interacts with its citizens. He wants to reduce the amount of digital data held on behalf of the Government by telecoms and Internet service provider companies. They already keep data recording who telephoned or emailed whom,… Learn more
Background “Tail-gunner” clauses are often used by corporate finance advisers in their terms of engagement so that if a transaction completes within a certain period after the termination of their engagement, a success fee is payable to the adviser despite the fact that they are no longer engaged at the date of completion. The clause… Learn more
The Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government is looking into the possibility of scrapping the controversial IR35 tax law. The law was brought in by the Labour Government in 2000 to force contractors to pay tax and national insurance on earnings of people working within the contracting company if they are akin to employees of the client company.… Learn more
Google has been involved in more controversy over its Street View service, as its cars have been inadvertently collecting the contents of wireless communications from people’s unsecured wi-fi networks in streets where they have been snapping. Google’s Street View service was already controversial, as privacy campaigners had objected to pictures of people going about their… Learn more
Before the general election, I looked at what the three main political parties were proposing for corporate governance, takeovers, businesses and regulation. All the parties had clear-cut policies in these areas. However, following the election result and subsequent formation of the coalition government, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have had to sit down with each… Learn more
A trainee accountant has been the first person convicted of sending a menacing tweet. Paul Chambers sent an impulsive tweet in the early hours of the morning after discovering that Nottingham Airport had been shut due to the snow – meaning that he may soon be unable to meet up with a Northern Ireland woman… Learn more
This was a case where Kaschke sued Osler for comments that Osler had made about Kaschke on Osler’s blogs. Kaschke claimed that they were defamatory. Osler applied to strike the claim out as an ‘abuse of process’. The High Court has agreed to do so. Osler had not said that much different to what Kaschke… Learn more
The European Commission has published its Digital Agenda, which identifies its plan for legislation in the next ten years in the digital world. Its overarching aims include creating a digital single market, enhancing trust and security on the Internet, having greater interoperability between technologies, having more investment in research in development and boosting Internet access… Learn more
Anybody home before 7.30pm yesterday may have caught ITV’s Tonight programme on “Divorce: For Richer or Poorer”, asking whether England and Wales’ divorce laws are fair? Leaving aside the obvious answers that generally this is not what divorce law is about and that specifically the word is not to be found in s.25 of the Matrimonial… Learn more
Nine suppliers of Dynamic Random Access Memory chips to PC and server original equipment manufacturers have been fined a total of €331m for breaching European Union competition law. Those fines were reduced because of the parties’ co-operation with the European Commission’s investigation. A tenth company, Micron, received total immunity for being a whistleblower. The parties… Learn more