Friday, 15 February 2013


Hi, here is your weekly round-up of Out-Law News highlights from international law firm Pinsent Masons.  As always, there are plenty  of other stories from this week.  You can also access our archive of weekly emails.
 

This week's highlights from Out-Law News
TMT & Sourcing and Intellectual Property  
Sensitivity of personal data should be determined by processing purpose and context not through categorisation, says ICO
The sensitivity of personal information should be determined by the reasons behind why the information is to be processed, the UK's data protection watchdog has said.
14/02/2013

Tribunal sets out new guidance on determining whether FOI requests are 'vexatious'
Whether a freedom of information (FOI) request is 'vexatious' or not will depend on the burden of meeting the request; the motive of requesters; the value or serious purpose of requests, and any harassment or distress caused, an Information Rights Tribunal has said.
13/02/2013

FSA conducting cyber security review of 30 major firms
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is assessing the cyber security plans of 30 major financial firms.
13/02/2013

Unified patent court procedures could stall technology innovations, says expert
Technology companies could be "unduly prevented" from launching new products to the market because of the way a new court system that is to be designed to deal with disputes relating to new unitary patents has been configured, an expert has said.
13/02/2013

Data security breaches mainly involve outsourced IT service providers, according to Trustwave report
The majority of cyber security breaches investigated by a global information security company last year involved failings by third party IT providers, according to a new report.
12/02/2013

Commission unveils plans for expanded cyber breach notification regime
A range of businesses across the financial services, energy and technology sectors are among those that would be subject to new cyber security and breach notification rules under new legislative plans outlined by the European Commission.
08/02/2013

Tax
Bidders for Government contracts must self certify that they have not been involved in tax avoidance, says Treasury
From 1 April 2013 companies bidding for Government contracts worth more than £2 million will be obliged to self certify that they have not been involved in certain types of tax avoidance, according to a Treasury press notice.
14/02/2013

HMRC "casting keen eye" on US-based companies' tax affairs, says expert
US-based large companies remain under investigation by UK tax authorities over the same amount of tax as they did last year, according to figures obtained by Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.
12/02/2013

Employment
Draft Acas code on settlement agreements could lead to longer exit periods, says expert
The strict conditions that must be met before employers will be protected from having discussions relating to settlement agreements used against them in a tribunal could lead to lengthier exit discussions than is currently the case, an expert has said.
14/02/2013

Construction Advisory & Disputes
Engineer held liable for drop in property value during his delay
An engineer can be held liable for a drop in the value of a property during a period of delay caused by him, the Court of Appeal has ruled.
14/02/2013

Financial Services
FSA rethinks proposed restrictions on the marketing of certain types of investment fund
The financial services regulator is rethinking its plans to restrict the marketing of certain types of "non-mainstream" investment schemes to ordinary retail investors, it has said.
13/02/2013

Property Litigation
Property owner can have right to light protected even if it is not under immediate threat
Property owners were entitled to apply to the court for a declaration protecting their right to natural daylight at the property, even where there was no immediate risk of that right being infringed.
12/02/2013
 




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