ebusiness

A House of Lords Select Committee issued a report entitled Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market (see Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market) in response to an EU Commission consultation in relation to the use of market power by the largest online platforms. The report recommends an investigation by the Competition and Markets […]

The EU Commission’s drive to encourage EU cross-border trade through increased consumer confidence took a step forward today (9 February 2016) with the operational launch of its online dispute resolution platform (ODR platform). The portal (which is accessible at the following link:  http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/) is specifically designed to help consumers who have bought goods or services […]

Readers will be aware of the trumpeting surrounding the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA) which came into force on 1 October 2015.  It aims to bring the law up to date for consumer sales across the board, with particular focus on unfair consumer contract terms and the supply of digital content.  But what has changed […]

If carried out properly, the sale of customer or user information offers a potentially lucrative revenue source for any data-rich company. However, get it wrong and – as NHS-approved online chemist “Pharmacy 2U” can now testify – it can be quite the reverse. Pharmacy 2U’s rude awakening took the form of a £130,000 fine from […]

It’s not fair to say traditional media no longer have consumer appeal; after all the John Lewis Christmas ad makes its own headlines each year! However, new technologies are creating ways for fashion retailers to connect with shoppers in a cheaper, more immediate manner. Last year, Regent Street was the first street in Europe to […]

Fladgate LLP acted for the sellers Hyperlink Media Limited and Applied Logics Limited on the sale of the remote online gaming business known as Roxy Palace for a total consideration of £8.4 million, comprising £2m in cash and the issuance of 10,000,000 new Ordinary Shares. Corporate partners Grant Gordon and Alan Wetterhahn advised the clients, […]

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 (Act) has now received Royal Assent, bringing about an overhaul in the law regarding the sale and supply of goods, services and digital content and the law on unfair contract terms. The Act clarifies and consolidates previous legislation, attempting to make it easier for traders and consumers alike to observe […]

IP owners continue to get punishment dished out to them, and not on a consensual basis. A recent decision of the UK’s Court of Appeal has reviewed the rules that dictate when parallel (or “grey”) market product can be rebranded to match the brand used by the market leader in the national market concerned. The […]

Appointing advertising agents or other consultants is a routine job, and no one expects to negotiate over detailed terms of business to do so. But an appointment based on basic, or even no, terms can, in the long run, be worse. Asking questions and simply recording expectations, while both parties are positive at the start […]

2014 is the “Year of the Consumer” and the UK Government is implementing a raft of new legislation which is aimed at giving greater rights to consumers, who will benefit from increased transparency and further information when purchasing goods or services online. The new regulations apply to “distance selling” contracts (where a trader and consumer […]

There are changes afoot to the UK gambling regime. We set out below a short summary of recent key changes. The Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 (Act) received Royal Assent on 14 May 2014, amending the Gambling Act 2005. Under the previous regulatory regime, remote gambling operators situated outside Great Britain were not regulated […]

Last year we reported on the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) decision in Oracle v UsedSoft (1), in which the court held that a licensee of computer software could legitimately sell it on a second hand basis, where the licence was akin to a ‘sale’ of the software. We commented that, although the case was […]