<p>Filter Knowledge</p>

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

The Advertising Standard Agency's (ASA's) use of AI-assisted collective advert monitoring is having a clear effect; with a 30-fold increase in the number of adverts analysed by the ASA in the period 2022 – 2023, and the ASA's new strategy to proactively pursue so-called "greenwashing" claims, businesses across many sectors are falling foul of the regulator.  

Introduction

In our Dispute Resolution Yearbook article Anti-suit injunctions for foreign seated arbitrations – a closing door?, we discussed the Court of Appeal's decision in UniCredit -v- RusChemAlliance^[1] in which the Court of Appeal granted a final anti-suit injunction (ASI) restraining RusChemAlliance LLA (RCA) from pursuing court proceedings in Russia, in breach of a Paris-seated arbitration agreement. The Court of Appeal's judgment was the first time that the English Courts had ordered, on a contested basis, that England was the proper place to bring a claim for an ASI in respect of a foreign-seated arbitration clause.

HMRC has today updated its guidance on the UK's employment-related securities (ERS) rules which can tax, as employment income, benefits arising to employees from securities deriving from their employment.  For these purposes, directorships count as employment and, broadly, securities derive from employment if the right or opportunity to acquire them is, actually, available by reason of the employee's employment. On top of this factual causation test, there is a long-standing deeming provision which, essentially, says that if a security is made available by a person's employer or a person connected with the employer, it will be an ERS (unless awarded due to domestic, family or personal relationships).  

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

In this briefing, we focus on four areas of law and practice which have seen interesting recent changes: landlord and tenant; nuisance; real estate development; and protest. Our briefing explores some of the ways in which the real estate sector continues to be impacted by, and to respond to, challenges around energy efficiency; housing rights and safety; water management; environmental protection; and the right to protest.

Our regular round-up of recent and forthcoming developments in law and practice for in-house counsel.

Earlier this year, the European Court of Human Rights (the "ECtHR") delivered three judgments on the application of the European Convention on Human Rights ("Convention") in the climate change context. Whilst two of these cases (Agostinho^[1] and Carême^[2]) were ruled inadmissible on procedural grounds, in the case of KlimaSeniorinnen^[3], the ECtHR found a violation of Convention rights in relation to climate change and outlined positive obligations on all State Parties to the Convention, including the UK, to mitigate climate change.

Private Equity & Financial Sponsors Partner Tom Hartwright has featured in Financier Worldwide's special report on private equity-backed M&A.

Gearing up for exit or making a strategic acquisition can be a daunting task, and it is important to be prepared. This briefing highlights the key legal due diligence issues to arise in relation to software businesses in the UK and EU, focussing on intellectual property and trading arrangement aspects. 

How do you know that your business owns or has the relevant rights to the intellectual property in its software, particularly where the rights are not registrable?  What can your business do to manage the risk of its developed software infringing third party intellectual property rights? This briefing looks at key strategies to help manage intellectual property risks in software development.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

Employers can expect significant reforms to UK employment law under plans announced by the new Labour government.

If open source software did not exist, firms would need to spend 3.5 times more on software, according to a 2024 Harvard Business School paper . In fact, Synopsys' 2024 Open Source Security and Risk Analysis (OSSRA) report states that 96% of codebases contain open source software. So, what is open source software?

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Key employment and business immigration developments for employers.

Smart contracts have been somewhat eclipsed by the recent focus on artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI. But as we explain below, smart contracts have their uses – and it's possible that in future, generative AI could complement smart contracts to further automate the contracting process.

As technology evolves, and with burgeoning markets in artificial intelligence, software companies are not only in the position of needing to comply with GDPR themselves but are also pivotal in the design and operation of products or services that allow their customers to achieve GDPR compliance – understanding and smoothing the compliance path for customers can set a software company apart from the competition, fortifying its position within the marketplace.  This article suggests key GDPR compliance strategies.