Commercial Law newsletter - March 2023

9 March 2023

This is the place to keep up-to-date on the latest commercial law news, rulings, and forthcoming updates to legislation, as well as learn about common issues and pitfalls encountered when drafting and negotiating commercial contracts.

In this issue we will be covering a wide range of topics, considering what’s new in the world of NFTs, taking a look at what the regulators are doing, including new ICO guidance on direct marketing, the children’s code, and the CMA’s enforcement work targeting dark patterns, in addition to taking a look at how the UK’s new subsidy control regime will work (in particular with respect to enforcement), and finally the enforcement of a contractual duty of good faith.

Zero-trust blockchain verification for WHOIS searches

The Whois system is a database containing information about domain name owners. Originally, the information was publicly available to anyone who used a Whois lookup tool. Read more…

CMA’s recent investigations mark the start of enforcement work targeting dark patterns

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s competition regulator, has launched an investigation into the mattress and bed brand company Emma Sleep and whether their online sales tactics have misled consumers. Specifically, the CMA are looking into Emma Sleep’s use of countdown timers and claims that discounted prices will end soon when this may not be the case and whether this is a breach of Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (SI 2008/1277) (often referred to as the “CPRs”) and consumer protection. Read more…

How will the new UK subsidy control regime be enforced?

With the publication of the first appeal being brought under the UK’s new subsidy control regime, we look at how the new regime will be enforced, and the remedies available to aggrieved parties. Read more…

The ICO publishes new resources and guidance for direct marketing

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), responsible for upholding information rights, has published new guidance and resources to assist businesses to conduct direct marketing in line with the UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (as amended) (PECR). Read more…

pre-contractual documents | Hill Dickinson

Interpreting the contractual duty of good faith

The duty of good faith has come under the spotlight in the recent Court of Appeal case Re Compound Photonics Group Ltd; Faulkner -v- Vollin Holdings Ltd ([2022] EWCA Civ 1371). The court’s decision in this case provides some clarity on the approach to construing good faith obligations and suggests that the effect of such contractual obligations, whether express or implied, will be highly fact specific. Read more…

MetaBirkin and NFTs

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have gained significant attention in recent years due to their potential to revolutionise the art world, as well as their ability to represent ownership of unique digital assets. In the UK, the legal framework surrounding NFT ownership is still evolving, and there are several key considerations that individuals and businesses should keep in mind. Read more…

Privacy protection for children: new ICO guidance for game developers

The Children’s Code (officially, the ‘Age-Appropriate Design Code’) (Code) was published by the information Commissioner’s office (ICO) on 2 September 2021, and sets out standards which require online services including websites, apps, games, social media, streaming services and news services, to provide better privacy protections for children in the digital world in order to comply with UK data protection law. Read more…

Treatment of Non-Compliant Bids in a Procurement Process

The recent decision of Inhealth Intelligence Limited -v- NHS England (2023) provides useful principles (guidance) for contracting authorities when considering the treatment of non-compliant bids and emphasises the importance for bidders in ensuring that they comply strictly with all tendering requirements within a procurement process. Read more…

Meet the team

Mark Fitzgibbon is a partner and Head of the Commercial, TMT & IP team based in the North West. He qualified in 1994 and his practice focusses on general supply chain commercial arrangements and more predominantly upon public procurement regulation and practice, acting for public sector, private and third sector clients. Mark is ranked in the Legal 500 2023 for his public procurement expertise.
Mark Weston is our Head of Commercial (London), TMT Law & IP Law and Regulatory Law (London). He is an expert in law and practice in the following areas: commercial and business (both non-contentious and contentious), regulatory issues, information technology (IT), intellectual property (IP) and media law and practice - and digital business generally (including all business and consumer law issues) and data protection (privacy) law.
James Lonsdale is a partner in the Commercial, TMT & IP team in Manchester who has over 25 years of experience advising on a range of different commercial arrangements including supply, distribution, agency agreements, IP acquisition and licensing and IT and outsourcing arrangements across a broad range of sectors including IT, Telecoms, Financial Services, Retail and Manufacturing and for a wide variety of clients from small startups to large listed companies. He is ranked as a leading individual in the Legal 500 for IT and Telecoms and as a Band 1 Lawyer within the North West for Information Technology in Chambers & Partners.
Helen Feinson is a senior associate in the Commercial, TMT and IP team who focuses on supporting both private and public sector clients with compliance under the UK subsidy control and public procurement regimes, as well as having extensive experience dealing with all aspects of public funding. She has a keen interest in large infrastructure and regeneration projects, as well as extensive experience across the life sciences, health, housing, education, arts and transport sectors.
Saba Mumraz is an associate in our Commercial, TMT and Intellectual Property team and is based at our Manchester office. Saba qualified into the team in January 2022 and undertakes a broad range of non-contentious work in the following areas: commercial and business (both B2B and B2C), intellectual property (including trade mark and design registration), information technology, data protection and corporate due diligence.
James Lock is an associate in the Commercial, TMT and IP team. He advises in law and practice in the following areas: commercial agreements (from trading agreements, outsourcing and other trading contracts and specialist projects); Technology and IT (IT); intellectual property (IP); media law and digital business generally (including business and consumer law issues).
Lauren Begley is a paralegal in the Commercial, TMT and IP team. She graduated from the University of Liverpool with a law degree and has since been working in the team where she mainly assists with due diligence projects.
Charlotte Killeen is a trainee in the Commercial, TMT and IP team. Charlotte has been an employee of HIIL Dickinson for 3 years, joining as a paralegal in the Pensions team before starting her Training Contract in September 2022.