Latest Cases

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 – Freedom of movement. The Court of Justice of the European Union made a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of art 12 of Council Directive (EC) 2004/114 (on the conditions of admission of third-country nationals for the purposes of studies, pupil exchange, unremunerated training or voluntary service). The request had been made in the course of proceedings brought by Mr Ben Alaya against Germany, concerning its refusal to grant him a visa for study purposes. 

Criminal law – Indictment. The defendants worked for a company which was a major manufacturer of an anti-knock fuel additive for use in motor gasoline. They had initially been charged with conspiracy to corrupt for allegedly bribing public officials and other agents of the Government of Indonesia. They sought leave to appeal against their conviction on a second count of conspiracy to corrupt, which had been added after the close of the prosecution case. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, refusing leave, held that no injustice had resulted from the addition of count 2. The court reduced the sentence from four years' imprisonment to three years' imprisonment in respect of one of the defendants where the judge had used the wrong starting point. 

European Union – Value added tax. The Court of Justice of the European Union made a preliminary ruling related to the interpretation of arts 2, 9(1), 11, 56, 193 and 196 of Council Directive (EC) 2006/112 (on the common system of value added tax). The request had been made in proceedings between Skandia America Corp. (USA), filial Sverige (Skandia Sverige), and the Swedish tax authorities, regarding the latter's decision to charge VAT on the supply of services by Skandia America Corp., established in the United States, to its branch Skandia Sverige. 

Family proceedings – Ancillary relief. A husband and wife had lived together in a farmhouse held by the husband's parents. A trust was later executed over the farmhouse, with the husband as the principal beneficiary. Both the husband and wife had contributed joint money to the farmhouse. The wife claimed for ancillary relief following divorce. The family court held, inter alia, that the trust would be varied to create a wife's fund, of which £23,000 would be outright and £134,000 would be on the life tenancy in respect of the farmhouse. 

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. 

Patent – Infringement. The Patents Court found that CompactGTL had infringed European Patents (UK) Nos 1 206 508 and 1 206 509, which related to catalysts for use in the Fisher-Tropsch (FT) process, which was used for so-called gas-to-liquid conversion of hydrocarbons. The court also allowed Velocys' application to amend the patents on the grounds of obvious mistake. 

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. 

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. 

Practice – Civil litigation. The Chancery Division declined to grant an application to strike out a claim in proceedings concerning the estate of the deceased Kuwaiti Sheikh in circumstances where the claim had been purportedly brought in the third claimant's personal capacity on behalf of the estate or as the representative of the other beneficiaries of the estate, but was later amended to state that the third claimant was suing on her own behalf and as administratrix.