Top Stories

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  Disclosure Haunts The SFO, Posing Challenge For Next Chief

  By Christopher Crosby

  The next director of the Serious Fraud Office must tackle the systemic disclosure failings that haunt its cases ...(read more)

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  Capita 'Overwhelmed' By Civil Service Pension Case Backlog

  By Joel Poultney

  Outsourcing giant Capita has admitted to a parliamentary committee that it was "overwhelmed" by the scale of the...(read more)

• EU Approves Universal Music's $775M Deal For Downtown

  By Matthew Perlman

  European enforcers have greenlighted Universal Music Group's $775 million purchase of Downtown Music Holdings, after the companies agreed to unload a royalty accounting platform that has access to sensitive information from rival music labels.

• Google, Meta Facing AI Copyright Claims From Publishers

  By Jamie Lennox

  A group of independent U.K. publishers has set the ball rolling on copyright infringement claims against artificial intelligence developers, including Google and Meta, alleging that they might have trained models using protected works without permission.

• Trans Individuals Lose Challenge To Single-Sex Toilet Rules

  By Sophia Dourou

  A group of transgender and intersex individuals lost their legal challenge Friday to the equality watchdog's interim guidance about which toilets trans people can use in public issued after a U.K. Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman.

• Not Milk? Oatly Ruling Sets TM Limits For Alternative Foods

  By Alex Baldwin

  Plant-based alternatives will not be able to invoke the name of their dairy counterpart, lawyers say, after the U.K.'s top court drew a line in the sand that barred a leading brand from getting a trademark for branding with the word "milk."

• Daily Mail Owner's £500M Telegraph Deal To Be Scrutinized

  By Najiyya Budaly

  The government said Thursday that it has referred the £500 million ($681 million) acquisition of Telegraph Media Group by the owner of the Daily Mail newspaper to the competition and communications regulators after raising concerns about media plurality in the U.K.

• Ex-Cisco Legal Director Seeks £4M In Male Gender Bias Claim

  By William Janes

  A former legal director at Cisco has accused the technology company of sex discrimination, asking a tribunal to award him almost £3.9 million ($5.3 million) over allegations that he was selected for redundancy because he was a man.

• Insurers Defend Cutting Claims In COVID Furlough Test Case

  By Martin Croucher

  Britain's highest court should take the most obvious interpretation of the question of whether state furlough grants made during the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the wage bill of businesses, insurers argued at a hearing on Thursday.

• Broker Says Denmark Can't Bring £56M Cum-Ex Fraud Claim

  By Sophia Dourou

  An English broker told Britain's top court on Thursday that Denmark's tax authority can't sue it for more than £56 million ($76 million) over a tax refund fraud, because an earlier decision in related proceedings rendered the claim inadmissible.

• Clifford Chance-Led Nuveen To Buy Schroders For £9.9B

  By Najiyya Budaly

  Schroders said Thursday that it has agreed to a £9.9 billion ($13.5 billion) cash takeover by U.S. asset manager Nuveen in a transaction that would take one of the City's historic names into private ownership.

• SFO To Revisit 20 Cases After Bribery Prosecution Implodes

  By Christopher Crosby

  The Serious Fraud Office said Thursday that it is reexamining the integrity of approximately 20 cases after it abandoned a decade-old bribery prosecution because of another failing in disclosure. 

• Outdated Laws Blamed For China Spy Case Collapse

  By Eddie Beaver

  The root cause of the collapse of criminal proceedings against two men accused of spying for China was outdated legislation, but the risk of future problems has not been entirely negated by a new national security law, a parliamentary committee warned Thursday.

• UK Top Court Opens Path For AI Patents In 'Seismic' Ruling

  By Alex Baldwin

  The U.K.'s highest court tore down on Wednesday decades-old barriers that prevent any software from being patented, in a landmark judgment that lawyers say fundamentally reshapes Britain's patent landscape in a more AI-friendly image.