The Space Industry Act 2018 created the high-level legal framework to enable commercial spaceflight and associated activities to be carried out from the UK. On Friday 5 March 2021 the government response to consultations on the space industry was published. The consultation sought views on the operability and effectiveness of the draft space industry regulations…
DetailsThe Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2021 (CPR) come into effect today, 6 April 2021. The 127th Practice Direction Update (PD) came into effect variously on 29 January 2021, 30 March 2021 and 6 April 2021. A summary of the main changes to the CPR and PD is outlined below. Overriding Objective and PD 1A CPR1.1 Overriding…
DetailsOn 20 January 2021, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in the case of Phones 4U Limited v EE Limited [2021] EWCA Civ 116. It upheld the decision that, for the purposes of disclosure, the personal devices of the defendant’s employees and former employees containing relevant documents were under the defendant’s control. The court…
DetailsThe Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has announced a formal investigation into tech giant Apple. The announcement follows complaints to the CMA from app developers regarding the company’s terms and conditions. The terms and conditions are also the subject of a European Commission investigation, in which it was announced this week that Apple would be…
DetailsThe Council of Europe has published new guidelines on the automatic processing of personal data for facial recognition. The Council of Europe press release can be found here. The guidelines can be found here. While quite generic, they should provide companies with some clarity on the interplay between the European data protection regime and the…
DetailsProminent game developer Epic Games has filed an antitrust complaint against Apple in the European Union, widening the net of its continuing legal challenges after filing lawsuits in the US, Australia, and the UK, the last of which you can read about in our blog post here. At the core of the legal dispute is…
DetailsWhen, where and why should the law intervene in the distribution of a product? This perennial and highly practical question is open for consultation as of 10 February 2021 (see more here). During its EU membership, the UK was required to apply the EU’s Vertical Agreements Block Exemption, which applied a relatively strict approach to…
DetailsOn 21 January 2021, the CMA published its Issues Statement in the phase 2 review of a proposed joint venture between Liberty Global plc and Telefónica S.A. which would see their UK mobile businesses Virgin Media/Virgin Mobile and O2 merged. The CMA has jurisdiction to review the proposed joint venture following the European Commission’s decision…
DetailsHaving launched a claim against Apple in the US in August 2020, Epic Games, creator of gaming hit Fortnite, has now launched competition claims against both Google and Apple in the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”). Both claims are claims for damages for breach of competition law, brought under section 47A of the Competition Act…
DetailsThe European Commission has today published its proposal for a Digital Services Act, aimed at regulating gatekeeper tech platforms. If implemented, the law will impose a range of obligations on “gatekeepers”. For example, the proposal includes the imposition of rules requiring online platforms to ensure that hate speech and other illegal content does not appear…
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