Top Stories

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  UKIPO Plans To Tackle Backlog Fall Short

  By Alex Baldwin

  Recent moves by The U.K. Intellectual Property Office to reduce its backlog might not be enough for the agency's...(read more)

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  Gov't, EHRC Face Legal Challenge Over Toilet Use Guidance

  By Adele Redmond

  A group of transgender and intersex individuals launched a legal challenge against the equalities watchdog and a...(read more)

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• Microsoft Offers To Sell Office Without Teams After EU Probe

  By Ronan Barnard

  The European Commission called for comments Friday on commitments given by Microsoft to address potential anticompetitive bundling of its Teams video call program and the Office365 and Microsoft 365 groups of products.

• Director Of UK Economic Crime Center Steps Down

  By Christopher Crosby

  One of the most senior officials responsible for mustering Britain's fight against economic crime has stepped back from his job after a three-year stint that saw major investigations of corrupt elites and a crackdown on fraud and money laundering.

• Judge Sidelined Over Bias Concerns In Business Taxes Feud

  By Jamie Lennox

  A London court on Thursday removed a district judge from a dispute over the payment of business taxes, citing a risk of bias amid his "sensitive" response to a challenge of his decision in an earlier linked case.

• Ex-Solicitor Hit With 1st Individual Tax Avoidance Stop Notice

  By Eddie Beaver

  HM Revenue & Customs has ordered a struck-off solicitor to stop promoting two tax avoidance schemes, the first notice of its kind issued against an individual, the tax authority said Thursday.

• Gov't To Allow Foreign States To Own 15% Of UK Newspapers

  By Najiyya Budaly

  The government said on Thursday that it plans to loosen the rules on state ownership of British newspapers in a move to allow media outlets to draw in investment from sovereign wealth and pension funds.

• Greencore Set To Devour UK Meal Maker Bakkavor For £1.2B

  By Najiyya Budaly

  Irish sandwich maker Greencore said Thursday that it will gobble up ready-to-eat meals producer Bakkavor Group PLC in a cash and share takeover worth approximately £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) to create a U.K. convenience food giant.

• BoE Investigates Bank Of London As EY Raises Red Flags

  By Alex Davidson

  Bank of London has said it is under investigation by the Bank of England's regulatory arm, with the risk that an unfavorable outcome could affect whether it ultimately stays in business.

• FSCS OK To Fire Manager For Exposing Himself On Video Call

  By Tabitha Burbidge

  An employment tribunal has rejected claims of unfair dismissal and race discrimination brought by a former digital production manager who was sacked by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme after exposing his genitals during a video call with external contractors.

• Sanofi Can't Halt Amgen's Cholesterol Drug Sales At UPC

  By Jamie Lennox

  Sanofi and Regeneron have lost their attempt to prevent Amgen from selling cholesterol drug Repatha in Europe, failing to convince the Unified Patent Court that the medicine infringes their patent over a different treatment.

• Macfarlanes-Led US Pawnshop To Buy UK Rival For £300M

  By Dawood Fakhir

  U.S. pawn store giant FirstCash said Wednesday that it is expanding its geographical footprint by acquiring a British rival, H&T Group PLC, for approximately £297 million ($396 million) in a deal guided by Alston & Bird, Macfarlanes and Gowling.

• Insurer Settles €17M Project Delay Dispute With Wind Farm

  By Joel Poultney

  The U.K. branch of insurer Ergo Versicherung has agreed to a settlement in its €17.3 million ($19.5 million) dispute with an Irish energy company and its Dutch shareholder over the delayed construction of a wind farm.

• GE Offshoot Loses Nuclear Reactor Patent In Sweden

  By Jamie Lennox

  A Swedish appeals court on Tuesday revoked a GE-linked energy firm's patent over its nuclear reactor core technology, ruling that the blueprint does not set out the invention clearly enough.