Latest Cases

European Union – Rules on competition. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that art 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, read in conjunction with art 4(3) of the Treaty on the European Union, had to be interpreted as precluding national legislation, pursuant to which the price of haulage services for hire and reward might not be lower than minimum operating costs, which were fixed by a body composed mainly of representatives of the economic operators concerned. 

European Union – Value added tax. The Court of Justice of the European Union made a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of the first subpara of art 98(2) of, and point 6 of Annex III to, Council Directive (EC) 2006/112, as amended. The request had been made in proceedings between a publishing company and the Finnish tax board, and the issue was whether the Directive had to be interpreted as precluding national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, under which books published in paper form were subject to a reduced rate of VAT and books published on other physical supports, such as CDs, CD-ROMs or USB keys, were subject to the standard rate of VAT. 

European Union – Rules on competition. The European Commission found that the applicant's new rules for its interoperable banking systems had infringed art 81 of the EC Treaty. The General Court of the European Union dismissed its action for the annulment of the decision and the applicant appealed. The Court of Justice of the European Union, in allowing the appeal, held that, in holding that the measures at issue had had as their object a restriction of competition within the meaning of art 81(1) of the EC Treaty, the General Court had erred in law and had failed to observe the standard of review required under the case law. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union allowed the action brought by The Polo/Lauren Company, LP (Polo/Lauren), established in London (United Kingdom), against the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), relating to opposition proceedings between Polo/Lauren and FreshSide Ltd concerning the application by FreshSide for registration of a figurative sign depicting a bicycle polo player. 

Solicitor – Negligence. The Chancery Division found that M, a solicitor in the defendant firm, had failed to exercise reasonable care in advising the claimant on planning issues during the course of a conveyancing transaction. However, the claimant was found to bear responsibility for two-thirds of the total recoverable loss of £232.150. 

Criminal evidence and procedure – Delay – Admissibility of hearsay evidence – Right to fair trial. High Court of Justiciary: Refusing an appeal against a sheriff's ruling by an appellant who was indicted for trial on a charge of embezzlement, the court held that no prejudice had been shown to have occurred as a result of any delay in the prosecution and that the sheriff could not be faulted for allowing applications by the Crown to admit hearsay evidence and for rejecting a contention that, were the hearsay to be admitted the appellant's right to a fair trial would be breached. 

Personal injury – Health and safety – Liability – Causation. Court of Session: In an action in which the widow of an employee of Scottish Water sought damages, claiming his death was caused by an accident at work, the deceased having died at home from a pulmonary thromboembolism, due to deep venous thrombosis, due to immobility, due to a knee injury, the court concluded that a claimed slip or fall at work did not cause the tear of the medial meniscus of the deceased's left knee which immobilised him, that it had not in any case been proved that he slipped on wet grass or mud, and that even if he did slip and injure his knee (in a way that caused or contributed to his death) because of ground conditions no breach of legal duty by the defenders was involved. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Micrus Endovascular Corp (Micrus) for annulment of the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) concerning opposition proceedings between Laboratoires Delta and Micrus relating to the application by Micrus for registration of the word sign 'DELTA' as a Community trade mark. 

European Union – Commercial policy. In the context of defamation proceedings issued by the applicant against the respondents, the Court of Justice of the European Union answered five questions on the interpretation of European Parliament and Council Directive (EC) 2000/31. In particular, it held that 'information society services', within the meaning of art 2(a) of the Directive, covered the provision of online information services for which the service provider was remunerated, not by the recipient, but by income generated by advertisements posted on a website and that the Directive did not preclude the application of rules of civil liability for defamation. 

Passing off – Descriptive name. The claimant, which operated a state secondary school in London known as 'Cranford Community College', brought an action for passing off against the defendant, which traded as 'Cranford College' and which operated in the same area. The Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court, in dismissing the claim, held, among other things, that, on the evidence, no goodwill or misrepresentation had been established.