Latest Cases

Copyright – Infringement. The Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court dismissed the claimants' claim against the defendants for passing off and infringement of copyright in respect of the use of a trade name 'Hidden Gem', a logo and a photograph concerning jewellery where the acts complained of had been licensed at the relevant time. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Family Division, on the father's application for committal to prison of the mother, held that the mother had breached certain orders made with a view to recovering the children and regulating the arrangements on their return. It was satisfied that the mother had been guilty of contempt of court. However, the execution of the warrant of committal was to be suspended so long as the mother complied with certain conditions until a specified date, after which the sentence and warrant of committal were to be discharged. 

Patent – Infringement. The Chancery Division considered the validity of two claims in a patent dispute concerning a technique to prevent the corrosion of rebars used in reinforced concrete. The court held that claim 1 of the patent, which described a method, was valid but not infringed. However, claim 12 of the patent, which described a product suitable for use in the technique, was invalid. 

Estoppel – Proprietary estoppel. The Chancery Division, in dismissing the claimant's case, held that there had been no proprietary estoppel created, despite the money that she had paid to assist the deceased, H, in renovating a house. H had made no promise to leave the house to her and had said nothing to lead her to believe that such a promise had been made. 

Arbitration – Adjudication. The Technology and Construction Court considered the amounts owed to the claimant company following a number of adjudications in a construction dispute. The court made rulings as to the sums owed and the amounts payable. 

Prisoners – Inter-prison visits – Right to family life – Discrimination. Court of Session: In judicial review proceedings in which the petitioners, two life prisoners, averred to be a gay couple, imprisoned in different prisons, complained that their Convention rights were violated because the Scottish Prison Service refused to arrange inter-prison visits for them, the court held that the petition was not time-barred; that on the information available the prison service had not failed to respect the petitioners' family life in terms of art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and had not discriminated against them in terms of art 14; and accordingly they were not entitled to damages or human rights 'just satisfaction'. 

Company – Sole shareholder and director – Personal liability for actions of company. Court of Session: In a case in which the pursuer advanced claims against a company (the fourth defender) and its sole director and shareholder (the third defender) in respect of alleged infringements of trademarks, following a debate on the question of whether the third defender was properly convened as a party to the action on the basis that he was personally liable for the actions of the fourth defender, the court held that the action in so far as directed against the third defender was irrelevant and should be dismissed. 

European Union – Customs and and excise. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that arts 203 and 204 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/02, as amended, should be interpreted as meaning that a failure to comply with the obligation to present goods placed under the transit procedure at the customs office of destination led to a customs debt being incurred on the basis not of art 204 of that code, but of art 203 thereof, where the goods concerned had left the customs territory of the European Union and the holder under that procedure was unable to produce documents that complied with art 365(3) or 366(2) and (3) of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93. 

Heritable property – Forged disposition – Reduction. Court of Session: Allowing a reclaiming motion by a pursuer who challenged the Lord Ordinary's refusal to grant decree of reduction of a forged disposition, the court held that the Lord Ordinary erred in law by adopting the approach of an exercise of discretion: the deed was null and of no effect, and the pursuer was entitled to decree of reduction. In any event, the court would, had the issue arisen, have interfered with the exercise of the Lord Ordinary's discretion. 

Sentencing – Sexual Offences Act 2003 – Notification requirements. High Court of Justiciary: Refusing an appeal by an appellant who pled guilty to an offence of threatening or abusive behaviour involving obtaining clandestine access to an intimate photograph on the complainer's mobile showing her naked private parts and transmitting it electronically to a third party, the court held that the sheriff was entitled to find that there was a 'significant sexual aspect' to the offence, which meant that the appellant became subject to the notification requirements in the Sexual Offences Act 2003.