When a new outsourcing contract is put in place and the relevant part of the business is either moved from an internal department of the customer to a new provider, or an outsourcing contract is removed from an existing provider and given to a new provider, then employees dedicated to that part of the business [...]
Biopharma/Medtech in the news
Parallel importation and repackaging of medical products: level of liability for trademark infringement in the UK
It has long been established that the parallel importation and repackaging (often into a local language) of trademarked pharmaceutical and medical products from one member state of the European Union to another is lawful under European free movement of goods law where the trademark owner does not consent provided certain conditions are satisfied, including a [...]
Just what is a “managing” director anyway?
If one of the directors of a company is appointed as a “managing director”, what special powers does he or she have? This question came up in a recent High Court case where various directors – including a “managing director” – fell out with one another in a big way. As that case shows, much [...]
Like diamonds, secrets can be forever
When directors or shareholders of small technology companies fall out things can get very nasty, and since most technology companies have secrets of one kind or another (trade secrets, secret processes and other confidential information) one of the major risks is that one of the warring parties will misuse those secrets in order to form [...]
Bribery Act 2010: dealing with the risks
The Bribery Act 2010 will come into force on 1 July 2011 and codifies offences of offering bribes (to be found in section 1 of the Act), receiving bribes (section 2), bribery of foreign public officials (section 6) and, most controversially of all, the failure by a commercial organisation to prevent a bribe being paid [...]
A remedy of sorts – termination clauses
Most modern commercial contracts contain detailed termination provisions setting out how a contract can be terminated by one side if the other does something wrong, but they do not always work as intended.
Why use a solicitor to advise on contracts? Protection and Privilege
Contracts need not be complicated things, and unless you unleash a rather old-fashioned lawyer onto the job most contracts can be written in fairly standard, clear English. Many seasoned executives know their way around the standard contracts in their industries pretty well, so is a solicitor necessary in the contracting process? Often the answer will [...]
Can your customers’ changes to your product make you liable for patent infringement? Yes!
One of your competitors has a patent for a particular invention. One of your products does something similar to that invention, but in your product a key element described in your competitor’s patent is missing, and as a result your product does not infringe the patent. But what if your customers decide to introduce the missing element described in the patent into your product after they have bought it from you – do you infringe the patent in those circumstances? As of a Court of Appeal decision on 15 October 2010 the answer is likely to be yes.
Patents are not the only (biotech) fruit – licensing biotechnological inventions after the Monsanto v Cefetra decision
The decision of the European Court of Justice in the case of Monsanto v Cefetera earlier this year has cast doubt on some of the assumptions frequently used in the drafting of biotechnology licensing and partnering agreements, and licensor’s in particular should undertake a careful review of their licensing activities in the light of this significant development.
The C word – Cloud computing for life science companies
Are there any legal issues which might prevent cloud computing from being the new future of areas such as bioinformatics?