The legal scene
the two supermarkets reaching a consensus over the IP rights of M&S’s Colin the Caterpillar cake. ‘Shape of You’ More than £900,000 in legal fees were awarded to Ed Sheeran and the co-writers of his hit song ‘Shape of You’, following copyright allegations that were deemed “baseless”. A High Court judge had previously ruled that Sheeran “neither deliberately nor subconsciously” ripped off a hook with his “Oh I” section in ‘Shape of You’ from a 2015 track called ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Switch. It’s since been ruled that songwriters Switch and Ross O’Donoghue, the claimants, should pay the £916,200 in legal fees – an amount that’s due to be assessed and finalised at another hearing. Copyright infringement cases in the music industry are likely to continue finding their way into court, which begs the question raised by a DWF Group Plc trainee in a recent Commercial Question on LawCareers.Net – is it inspiration or appropriation? Wagatha Christie A celebrity libel case involving Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy hit the headlines in 2019-20, after Rooney alleged that leaked details from her private Instagram account came from “Rebekah Vardy’s account”. After three years of legal arguments between the pair, on 29 July 2022 the High Court ruled that Vardy was in fact involved in a series of stories that were leaked to the tabloid media. The ruling comes after Vardy sued Rooney for publicly accusing her of leaking the stories to The Sun . However, in July 2022, Mrs Justice Steyn found that evidence demonstrated that Vardy “knew of, condoned and actively engaged” in the details being passed to The Sun . It was ruled that Vardy’s agent at the time Caroline Watt was the one “likely” to have undertaken “the direct act” of leaking the information.
the legal action brought against the UK by the EU for its enforcement of post-Brexit trading rules in Northern Ireland. The UK has been accused of failing to apply customs and tax rules that are part of the 2019 exit agreement, as well as for failing to administer full border checks for goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain. At the time of writing, there are total of four legal cases against the UK relating to the Northern Ireland protocol. Major cases Here’s a very small sample of the many important and fascinating cases heard in UK courts in 2021-22. Use them as a starting point for your own research, and don’t forget to follow the stories you’re interested in as they develop. P&O Ferries At the end of March 2022, P&O Ferries dismissed 768 workers via video message on what would be their final day of employment. Two and a half weeks’ pay for each year of service, in addition to six months’ pay, were offered to those facing dismissal. While the government didn’t take P&O Ferries to court, despite the firm admitting it broke the law in dismissing nearly 800 workers without notice, in April an ex-P&O Ferries chef filed a tribunal claim against the company for unfair dismissal, racial discrimination and harassment. The chef is seeking to sue the company for £76 million over the unfair dismissal of around 800 staff without notice earlier this year. Colin v Cuthbert Last year, M&S accused Aldi of infringing its Colin the Caterpillar trademark with the design and packaging of its Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake. M&S alleged that Aldi was riding the coat-tails of its reputation and requested that Aldi remove the product from sale. The dispute has since been settled with
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