Good News!

In some circumstances where you put a lot of work into an anticipated agreement (ie tendering to a large company or government organisation for a project, such as IT installation or building work) and your customer then decides not to proceed – do not necessarily put it down as a lost cause. In certain circumstances the Court will make your would be customer pay you for the work you have done, or some of it. We are surprised by the number of our commercial clients who do not appreciate this. If you feel your company is in this position please contact us for a free consultation so we can assess whether you have a case worth spending money on.

Bad News!

Expected increases in employment fines etc.

1st February 2006 the maximum compensatory award rose to £58,400.00. A week's pay rise increased from £280.00 to £290.00.

On the 2nd April 2006 the maternity, paternity and adoption leave pay increases to £108.85 per week.

During 2006 the Immigration, Asylum and National Bill will introduce a civil penalty of £2,000 for employing illegal workers.

On the first October 2006 the Age Discrimination Legislation will come into force. More about this later.

Also on the 1st October 2006 the National Minimum Wage will be increased from £5.05 per hour to £5.35 per hour and the development rate from £4.25 to £4.45 per hour.

The sun is about to set on the new .eu domain name

The .eu web area which became operational on the 7th December is approaching sunset. ‘Sunrise phase 2' is only from February to April and this is a restricted period for applications by holders of ‘prior rights' – that is to say people who do not have trademarks but have intellectual property rights in unregistered trade marks, trade names, business identifiers, company names, family names and distinctive titles. Open registration starts on the 7th April 2006 on a first come, first served basis. If you have a valuable name (ie to which goodwill attaches so that you want the .eu tag) perhaps you should consider registration. Please contact us if you require further information.