Articles in ‘Commercial’ Category

Sunday 26 April marks World IP Day. Rather appropriately, coming only several days after the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, this year’s theme is ‘Innovate for a Green Future’.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in conjunction with the Financial Reporting Council have issued a further Q&A offering guidance to companies in relation to statutory filings, AGMs and other general meetings.

A new Corporate Governance and Insolvency Bill prepared by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), was put before Parliament on Wednesday 20 May, with a key focus on offering some reprieve to companies that find themselves in trouble in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On 27 May 2020, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) launched a new global online service that provides tamper-proof evidence of the existence at a point in time of any digital file, including data sets, in any format.

With the recently announced Corporate Governance and Insolvency Bill introducing a temporary suspension of wrongful trading actions, our Corporate team outline other potential claims that may be brought against directors of an insolvent company.

Despite the ongoing challenges faced by UK businesses, as lockdown measures ease and businesses start to re-open and adjust to a new way of working, directors across all sectors will be looking ahead and need to maintain a ‘hands on’ approach to considering, implementing and communicating key decisions.

Next up in our series of blogs focusing on the provisions introduced by the Corporate Governance and Insolvency Bill, we turn our attention to managing commercial contracts during temporary company moratorium and insolvency situations.

The AGM season traditionally kicks off in April, but the coronavirus outbreak has caused havoc with these annual events as countries restricted travel and banned mass gatherings. As a result, a number of large companies, including well-known high street names, have held their AGMs behind closed doors with shareholders being unable to attend or provide real-time questioning.

The last few weeks have been eventful for America’s biggest tech firm, Apple. Whilst CEO Tim Cook’s been forced to testify to the US Congress in a steadily building antitrust case, as well as facing one in the EU, the company saw its value double to $2tn over the last two years.

Yet despite all of this, the story that has really got people talking involves a computer game, 350 million players, and an app store.

Associate Charlotte Ebbutt summarises the key points of the Children’s Code, the new statutory code of practice aimed at protecting children within the digital world.

Many of us in these difficult times are working from home and conducting business through our computer screen. This business will often involve the creation, variation, and termination of contracts and many other transactions besides, often of considerable importance and value. I was recently asked whether ‘electronic signatures’ have the same legal effect as traditional ‘wet signatures’?

With the post-Brexit transition period ending in 31 December 2020 and talks between the EU and UK about a Free Trade Agreement (“FTA”) continuing, businesses need to continue to prepare for the key challenges ahead.