The first shareholder class action claim to be brought before the English courts, Sharp v Blank [2019] EWHC 3078 (Ch) has been dismissed from the High Court of Justice Chancery Division. The claim, which is on behalf of over 5,000 Lloyds shareholders, is against Lloyds and five former directors. It relates to Lloyds’ 2008 acquisition…
After a long pursuit from the Federal Trade Commission, AT&T, the world’s largest telecommunications company has agreed to a $60 million settlement with the FTC over its fake unlimited data ‘bait and switch’ scam. The scam saw AT&T baiting subscribers with unlimited data, trapped them in multi-year contracts with punishing termination fees, and then scammed…
In October 2018 the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court ruling against Morrisons, by finding there to be sufficient connection between Andrew Skelton’s role as a senior internal auditor for the grocery chain, and his conduct in having access to sensitive employee information and disclosing it in a deliberate breach of data privacy regulations.…
The EU Court of Justice (EUCJ) recently ruled that a default consent to data processing is not in compliance with EU data protection laws and therefore does not amount to ‘valid consent’. At the core of the EUCJ decision was the interpretation of what constitutes ‘valid consent’ with regards to a pre-ticked checkbox used by…
As currently being announced in the press, an amended draft text for a Brexit Withdrawal Agreement has been agreed between the UK and the European Union. Next is the vote by Parliament this weekend, where it is far from certain that the proposed bill will receive the majority support necessary to progress through the legislature.…
The European Commission has fined Canon €28 million after finding that it had partially implemented an acquisition of Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (“TMSC”) before merger control notification. The EU operates a compulsory notification system, meaning parties must notify the European Commission of plans to merge before the transaction is completed. In this scenario, TMSC had…
The UK food industry has requested that it be granted a waiver from certain provisions of competition law in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Producers and distributors, including major supermarkets, are reported to have “repeatedly” asked the Government for a reprieve from rules which prevent collaborating on supply or pricing plans, in order to…
Google has announced a plan to allow rival search engines to compete to be a default search engine on new Android devices in Europe. Under the proposal, customers would have a choice of four default search engines, including Google, to choose from when setting up their phones. The proposal follows the European Commission fining Google…
Following an investigation opened in April 2018, the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) has issued a £3.7m fine against Casio Electronics for pressuring retailers to sell its digital pianos and keyboards at high minimum prices. The practice, known as Resale Price Maintenance, or “RPM”, is against competition law, The fine is the highest the CMA…
The blurring lines of data controllers: a case for joint responsibility of website operators and social media giants In recent days, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU”) ruled on a crucial matter regarding the privacy-compliant integration of a Facebook ‘Like‘ Button by Fashion ID, a German website operator (C-40/17). In a…
