Cash Flow - Life Blood of Business - In Business Summer 2002

Cash flow is the life-blood of business and it was in recognition of that fact that in 1998 the Government introduced the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act. Read Full Article

Changes to UK Design Registration - In Business Sumeer 2002

On 9th December the Registered Designs Regulations 2001 came into force. These Regulations amend the Registered Design Act 1949 (as amended by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) to bring it into line with Europe's design registration laws. Read Full Article

Defamation on the Internet - In Business Summer 2002

Email is now a routine part of business life. The nature of the medium means comments can be made instantly like speech, but recorded like a letter. This immediacy makes it difficult for employers to check business correspondence sent by email. Read Full Article

Ending an Agency - What to Pay - In Business Summer 2002

What happens when an agency agreement is brought to an end? How much will a principal have to pay by way of compensation? Until now, when applying the Commercial Agency Regulations, the rule of thumb appeared to require a principal to pay twice the average of the commission earned for the last three years. This was a benchmark based upon principles of French law and was in addition to any other rights that the agent had under the Regulations. Read Full Article

Go Directly to Jail - In Business Summer 2002

The government's Enterprise Bill is currently making its way through the committee stages of the House of Commons and will soon be law. The government is heralding the Bill as a major step towards making the UK the best place in the world to do business. Many businesses may disagree. Within the next few years the UK will have gone from having one of the most benign competition regimes to one of Europe's toughest. Read Full Article

New Partner for Furley Page - In Business Summer 2002

Andrew Masters, one of our Employment law specialists, became our newest partner on 1st May 2002. Read Full Article

Sale of Goods New Rights for Consumers - In Business Summer 2002

Regulations governing dealings with consumers are due for implementation this year. These changes will affect retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers. The European Commission last year issued a Green Paper on consumer protection and it intends to increase consumer rights across the Internal Market. One aspect of this initiative is in the area of sale of goods. Read Full Article