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Press and Media
The Times recognises RPC among Best Law Firms 2024
International law firm, RPC, has been recognised by The Times in its Best Law Firms 2024 report, an annual ranking of the top 250 law firms in England and Wales.
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Thinking - Blog
Parliamentary 'wash up' – which Bills made it through?
On 22 May 2024, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that a General Election will take place on 4 July 2024. Parliament was then prorogued on 24 May 2024 which allowed a mere 2 days for 'wash up' - the process by which outstanding bills may be rushed through the parliamentary process.
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Thinking - Snapshot
Snapshots Winter 2024
A roundup of key legal developments for the modern commercial lawyer.
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Thinking - Snapshot
Snapshots Autumn 2024
A roundup of key legal developments for the modern commercial lawyer.
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Thinking - Snapshot
Snapshots Summer 2024
A roundup of key legal developments for the modern commercial lawyer.
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Thinking - Snapshot
Snapshots Spring 2024
A roundup of key legal developments for the modern commercial lawyer.
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Thinking - Snapshot
Snapshots Winter 2023
A roundup of key legal developments for the modern commercial lawyer.
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Thinking - Snapshot
Snapshots Autumn 2023
A roundup of key legal developments for the modern commercial lawyer.
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Thinking - Snapshot
Snapshots Summer 2023
A roundup of key legal developments for the modern commercial lawyer.
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Thinking - Snapshot
Snapshots Spring 2023
A roundup of key legal developments for the modern commercial lawyer.
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Thinking - Snapshot
Snapshots Winter 2022
A roundup of key legal developments for the modern commercial lawyer.
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Thinking - Blog
Ofcom's 'Roadmap to Regulation' underway with its consultation on illegal harms duties under the Online Safety Act
In November, Ofcom, as new online safety regulator, published the first of four major consultations under the Online Safety Act ("OSA"), which sets out its proposals for how "user-to-user" ("U2U") services (essentially any online website or app that allows users to interact with each other) and online search services (i.e. Google, Bing and similar) should approach their illegal content duties under the new legislation. The consultation provides guidance in a number of areas including governance, content moderation, reporting and complaints mechanisms, terms of service, supporting child users, and user empowerment.
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Thinking - Blog
The Online Safety Bill is set to become law
The Online Safety Bill will shortly become law in the UK as soon as it receives Royal Assent. The legislation will introduce a new regulatory regime for online platforms and search engines which target the UK, imposing wide-ranging obligations on in-scope services with serious consequences for non-compliance.
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Thinking - Blog
Going Green - Draft Sustainability Guidance from the CMA
Following its public consultation, the CMA has published its advice to government on how competition and consumer laws can help meet the UK's environmental goals.
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Thinking - Blog
Hype Economics: the haves and the have bots
With the most wanted items selling out in the blink of an eye, consumers are leveraging automation to get ahead. Is the use of bots creating more than a moral dilemma for retailers?
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Thinking - Blog
Ten tips for retailers entering the metaverse
Once the province of online gaming and social media, the metaverse is the new hot topic in retail.
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Thinking - Blog
Vertical Agreements: The New Reality
For those operating in the retail sector (amongst others), 1st June 2022 saw changes to the UK and EU competition law rules and the "safe harbour" or exemption from the application of competition law for certain types of vertical agreements, i.e. for contractual parties operating at different levels of the supply chain.
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Thinking - Blog
Low2NoBev Show - RPC takes front row seat as exclusive legal sponsor as the "No/Lo" alcohol drinks category soars
Ahead of RPC acting as the exclusive legal sponsor of the Low2NoBev Show taking place at Olympia London later this month (26 – 28 September 2022), it is useful to understand the fundamental changes happening in this growing sector and the potential discussion points that may arise relating to the marketing of these products.
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Thinking - Blog
What'SUP? Single-Use Plastics (SUP) are next target in UK government's war on plastic waste
It only takes a short walk along London's Regent's Canal to witness the sheer volume of littered single-use plastics (SUP).
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Thinking - Blog
The Summer of ‘Pre-Love’: Has Fast Fashion been Dumped by the British Public?
ITV’s Love Island is back on our screens, officially marking the British summer. This year the show is dumping fast fashion and ‘coupling up’ with its first-ever second-hand clothing sponsor, eBay, with contestants now donning pre-loved pieces sourced from the resale platform.
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Thinking - Blog
Tips for approaching innovations using consumer data
Now more than ever, retailers are faced with a wide array of opportunities to use customer data to achieve their commercial objectives. By spotting and assessing key risks early, organisations will be better equipped to avoid breaches of data protection law that may lead to costly fines or claims, failed projects and reputational damage.
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Thinking - Blog
Are the brakes on for Quick Commerce?
With consumers continuing to prioritise speed and convenience in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been significant consumer uptake in the use of ultra-fast grocery delivery apps such as Zapp, Gorillas and Getir since early 2020.
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Thinking - Blog
Fake it till you make it? The Government says no more to fake reviews plus tightens up on subscription models
The UK Government has confirmed that new consumer rules will come into force to "shield the public from rip-offs and boost competition". Although not confirmed when these will be introduced, the top three issues on its hit list are fake reviews, "subscription traps" and prepayment schemes.
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Thinking - Blog
CMA pushing for more powers on sustainability
Following its public consultation, the CMA has published its advice to government on how competition and consumer laws can help meet the UK's environmental goals.
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Thinking - Blog
Hire Heels: why the rental clothing market matters
The old saying that "you can't wear the same outfit twice" doesn't fit well with younger consumers in particular, who are concerned about sustainability and the environmental hazards posed by fast fashion outlets.
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Thinking - Blog
Buy-Now-Pay-Later under the regulatory microscope
Growth in the Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) sector is showing no signs of slowing. Square's recent $29 billion acquisition of BNPL behemoth Afterpay being the latest signal that the market is on an upward trajectory. In 2020 alone over 10 million Brits used BNPL to purchase goods online, accounting for nearly 4% of online retail sales. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that usage had very nearly quadrupled to account for £2.7 billion of spending in 2020. Such popularity, particularly among Gen-Z and Millennials, spans the globe with American consumers spending an estimated $20 billion to $25 billion in 2020 by way of deferred payments.
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Thinking - Blog
A meaty debate: traditional vs lab-grown alternatives
The number of vegans and vegetarians in the UK has skyrocketed in recent years and there are an increasing number of 'flexitarians' aiming to reduce their meat intake for health and environmental reasons. Barclays predicts the meat-alternatives market could be worth £140bn by 2029, which is equivalent to 10% of the global meat industry. This market includes both plant-based foods and newer lab-grown meats.
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Thinking - Blog
Marketing mishap costs Papa John's
Last month, the Information Commissioner's Office ("ICO") has issued a £10,000 fine to Papa John's for sending over 165,000 marketing messages without properly meeting the requirements of the "soft opt-in" rule.
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Thinking - Blog
Retailers to be consulted on new legislation for protection from terrorist attacks
The Government is currently consulting with the public and retailers to seek their views on proposed legislation requiring the occupiers of "publicly accessible locations" to implement measures to protect employees and members of the public in the event of a terrorist attack.
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Thinking - Blog
Re-commerce: the future of luxury fashion?
With Gen Z successfully catapulting fashion resale platforms like Depop, StockX and Vinted into the limelight over the last decade, has the time come for the luxury market to enter the world of re-commerce?
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Thinking - Blog
The Great British (Local) High Street
There is no doubt that the UK high street has been hit hard in recent years, not least by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. But alongside the headline grabbing news of shop closures, there were in fact over 7,500 new shop openings between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020.
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Thinking - Video
TerraLex virtual meeting: The new wave of M&A
In this video presentation, RPC's Neil Brown and Paul Joukador meet with Lori Green and Rick McGuirk to discuss issues related to force majeure, frustration of purpose, material adverse change, and how they’ve been impacted and will likely change in the post-pandemic world.
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Profile
Thinking - Blog
The November 2023 AI safety summit and the UK's direction of travel
The government has confirmed that the UK AI safety summit will be held at Bletchley Park on 1 and 2 November 2023.
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Thinking - Blog
Telecoms supply agreement excludes "loss of profit" claim under "anticipated profits" liability exclusion (EE v Virgin Mobile)
In line with a number of recent cases, in EE Limited v Virgin Mobile Telecoms Limited [2023] EWHC 1989 (TCC) the courts have shown that parties generally cannot avoid clear wording contained in exclusion clauses in order to recover losses that have been expressly excluded (in this case, loss of profits).
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Thinking - Blog
Rolls-Royce entitled to hit the brakes in dispute over termination of a software services agreement (Topalsson v Rolls-Royce)
In Topalsson GmbH v Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited [2023] EWHC 1765 (TCC), the High Court has provided useful guidance on how to determine whether a software implementation timeline agreed by the parties is binding, when implementation is considered complete and in what circumstances failing to complete implementation by the contractual deadlines entitles the customer to terminate the contract.
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Thinking - Blog
A narrow escape – software services provider entitled to rely on single aggregate liability cap (Drax v Wipro)
When it comes to bespoke software development projects, a lot can go wrong. There's risk for the customer such as project delays, software defects, functionality issues and a lack of meeting of minds in terms of project requirements.
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Thinking - Snapshot
Harmful Online Choice Architecture: ASA criticises Nike and Sky for “dark pattern” tactics
What must businesses do to ensure that their ads do not fall foul of the ASA and CMA’s ongoing investigations into harmful choice architecture and dark pattern tactics?
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Thinking - Snapshot
Agreements to agree: Price for goods “to be fixed” by agreement results in partially enforceable contract
Where a contract for the sale of goods did not expressly specify the price for a portion of the goods, was the contract for the sale of those goods, or an element of it, enforceable or unenforceable as a mere agreement to agree?
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Thinking - Snapshot
Influencer posts and affiliate links: the whole marketing chain must know the rules
Why did the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) rule against Sainsbury’s on the use of an affiliate link by an influencer (noting that Sainsbury’s had no involvement in the creation of the post) and what steps could Sainsbury’s take to help prevent the problem from happening again?
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Thinking - Snapshot
Construing material adverse effect/material adverse change clauses
How did the courts go about construing a material adverse effect definition (MAE) in a share purchase agreement (SPA) to determine whether an event constituted a MAE so as to discharge the buyers from their obligation to close the transaction?
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Thinking - Snapshot
Travel agent found to have misled consumers with “from” price claims
How can advertisers avoid misleading consumers when using “from” price claims?
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Thinking - Snapshot
Reasonable notice termination not construed or implied into a contract with detailed termination provisions
Where a contract contains comprehensive termination provisions, in what circumstances will the court avoid construing or implying an additional right to terminate on reasonable notice?
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Thinking - Snapshot
ASA rules against telecoms companies on mid-contract price rises
What steps should be taken to ensure contractual mid-term price rises don’t fall foul of advertising regulations or Ofcom’s existing and incoming transparency rules?
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Thinking - Snapshot
Effect of a contractual liability cap on set-off and contractual interest
Under a contract’s liability cap, should the cap be applied separately to each party’s liability before any set-off or after calculating the net financial position between the parties?
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Thinking - Snapshot
Round up of recent green claims
Round up of recent green claims: Key updates and sector-specific updates
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Thinking - Snapshot
Court infers novation despite 'no dealings' clause
Magee and others v Crocker and others [2024] EWHC 1723 (Ch)
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Thinking - Snapshot
Determining whether a default interest clause is an unenforceable penalty
Houssein & Others v London Credit Limited & Another [2024] EWCA Civ 721
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Thinking - Snapshot
Agent authority in contract variation
Advanced Multi-Technology for Medical Industry and others v Uniserve Ltd and others [2024] EWHC 1725 (Ch)
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Thinking - Snapshot
Contract construction – adjective at the start of a list found to qualify the entire list
Cantor Fitzgerald & Co v Yes Bank Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 695
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