New Data Protection Rules
January 2010
£500,000 fine awaits businesses who fail to comply with new data protection rules
Your business could suffer severe financial penalties when new data protection proposals come into force on 6th April 2010.
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Who Owns Your Website?
November 2009
A common source of dispute in day to day business that we see, and particularly on a transfer / sale of a business, is ownership of the intellectual property (IPR) rights that exist in designs, software, processes and systems.
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Company Secretarial Data Sheet
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Meetings and Written Resolutions
17th July 2009
One of the stated aims of the Companies Act 2006 (the “2006 Act”) was to make it easier to set up, run and manage a private limited company. It has done this by introducing new provisions relating to members’ (shareholders) meetings and resolutions.
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Now may just be the right time to purchase that business
18th March 2009
Mergers and acquisitions have been put on hold by many businesses due to the economic downturn but opportunities still exist to acquire struggling competitors or to bolt on businesses that can complement your own business and expand your operations.
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Whose Name is it Anyway?
3rd November 2008
Have you found that another business is seeking to profit from the goodwill in your brand or the reputation of your business?
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Maintaining business success and protection in difficult times
25th August 2008
The current economic climate heightens the risk to any business. It could be from customers not paying, from overstaffing, or from trading while insolvent. But there are still steps businesses can take to ensure they are well placed to deal with the credit crunch.
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Companies Act 2006 - Update
11th April 2008
The Companies Act 2006 is being introduced in stages in order to allow Companies and
Practitioners to get to grips with its vast 1300 clauses and 16 schedules. A number of the new rules will be introduced this year. Are you prepared?
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How To Make Your Mark
18th January 2008
Prior to December 2007, the Intellectual Property Office (‘IPO’) would refuse an application for the registration of a trademark where its search of the trademark registry revealed a conflicting mark. This is no longer the case and the IPO will now no longer refuse to register a trademark where a conflicting mark is registered unless the holder of the earlier mark successfully opposes the application.
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Electronic Service
1st January 2008
New rules brought in towards the end of 2007 now require companies to positively ‘opt out’, if they do not wish to have documents served on them electronically by email, fax or potentially by text message.
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IP Rights - How To Protect Your Business’s Databases
19th April 2007
Most business will have developed at least one database, commonly a list of its customers and their contact details. Such information is very valuable to any business and large amounts of time and money are likely to have been invested in compiling it. It is therefore very important to take steps to protect your businesses database(s).
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IP Rights - How To Protect Your Software
18th April 2007
How do you protect this core element of your business? There are some statutory provisions that govern software protection but these are, on the whole, limited in their application, complex and expensive to enforce. The main statutory provisions are copyright and patents both covered under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1998.
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Companies Act 2006
25th January 2007
The Companies Act 2006 (the ‘Act’) received Royal Assent on 8 November 2006. The Act, which consists of 1,300 sections and covers nearly 700 pages, is the single largest piece of British Parliamentary legislation ever enacted. In spite of its length, the Act is designed to simplify and modernise the existing rules rather than make any dramatic shift in the company law regime. This briefing covers the key implications for your company.
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