Dallas McMillan's Glasgow Lawyers' Blog

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has issued a Tribunal Practice Notice confirming that, where a trade mark registered in black and white form has been extensively used in a particular colour or colours, the court can take this into account when it is considering issues of likelihood of confusion, detriment and unfair advantage. It also says that in infringement proceedings, it may be relevant that the later mark has been used in particular colours. The same principle applies in opposition and cancellation proceedings. The clarification of practice arises from the ECJ's judgment in Specsavers v Asda (Case C-252/12).

We are sure all residential Landlords and their Agents are aware of the necessity for lodging deposits within an independent entity.

Dallas McMillan are pleased to have been involved in two recent developments converting offices into residential flats in the Park area of Glasgow with all properties being sold.

Tougher penalties for employers who fail to fulfil their duties in protecting employees from injury and illness should be welcomed, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has said.

If you are injured in an accident and successfully conclude a claim for damages, it is worth considering the impact this could have on your financial situation. If at the time of the accident you are in receipt of means tested state benefits, a lump sum could have an implication on these benefits.

The Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 require an organisation's waste to be separated into paper, card, plastic, metals and glass for collection. For 'organisation' read – any body which is not a household.

At the beginning of 2013, the UK Government (“Government”) launched a consultation seeking views on the future of The Company and Business Names (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2009 (“Regulations”). Its aim was to identify opportunities to improve and simplify the current system. The Government’s response to the consultation was published in December.

So we are the start of yet another a new year but I wonder how many of you have made a new year’s resolution and whether this includes finally getting round to making that will or power of attorney you have been thinking about but putting off for so long.  After all, we are not all quite as lucky as Sherlock! Or maybe you have been thinking about moving house but have been waiting for the right time.   
 
Whatever your requirements or motivation, be it providing for your  loved ones or ensuring that they can help you when needed or moving to that new home you have worked so very hard to achieve, good legal advice can be invaluable.

The right of workers to be accompanied by a companion chosen by the worker, not the employer, has been reinforced by a recent decision by the Employment Appeals Tribunal in the case of Roberts v GB Oils.
 
In terms of the Employment Rights Act 1999 s10(1) and(2), a worker can “reasonably request” to be accompanied at a disciplinary or grievance hearing by a companion “chosen by the worker” and satisfying the criteria set out in s10(3). Under s10(3) a worker is entitled to choose to be accompanied by either a Trade Union official who is employed by the TU, or by a TU official not employed by the TU but certified in writing as having relevant experience for these hearings, or by a colleague of the worker.
 
In Roberts, the employers were held by the EAT to have breached s10 by refusing the worker his choice of s10(3) companion. The employers had argued that they had been entitled to refuse the original companion chosen by the worker in his request to be accompanied, on the basis that the worker’s choice of companion made the request an unreasonable one under s10(1)(b).
 
The EAT on both cases, however held that an employer cannot use s10(1)(b) to refuse a request as unreasonable simply because the employer does not like the worker’s choice of companion. It held that the worker has freedom of choice of requested companion, as long as the companion satisfies one of the three criteria set out in s10(3). In other words, the issue of overall reasonableness or otherwise of the request to be accompanied (s10(1)(b)) does not involve consideration of the worker’s choice of companion under s10(3).
 
This is important protection of the worker’s right to choose is companion. It should be noted, however, that if worker deliberately chose a valid but nonetheless clearly unreasonable companion, while he would still technically win a tribunal claim under s10 if this request was refused, the tribunal could reduce the (max 2 weeks’ pay) award to nil on equitable grounds.
                          

Male drivers are being urged to get plenty of sleep and take regular breaks, as research from Brake and Direct Line reveals a horrifying 45% admit ‘head-nodding’ at the wheel – meaning they have been asleep briefly, risking appalling crashes.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging businesses to focus on their legal responsibility to ensure lives are not put at risk and make the safety of workers their top priority for 2014.

2014 will see a number of changes to employment law in Britain. The dates for some of the changes have yet to be confirmed although most of the changes are expected to happen around the traditional date of early April.

Road safety charity Brake and Direct Line are appealing to party-goers to help prevent Christmas tragedies by standing up to designated drivers who break their promise by drinking alcohol. This puts their passengers and other road users at risk.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is calling on doctors and nurses across England and Wales to become better educated in how to safely care for patients who are given fluids through a drip (intravenous fluid therapy).

Newly diagnosed victims of mesothelioma – the aggressive and fatal cancer caused by asbestos – are to receive help for the first time through a new support scheme, as part of a bill currently going through Parliament.

In a recent English case, a London sports club has pleaded guilty to section 1(1) of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, following the death of an 11-year-old girl who was taking part in a water sports activity in September 2010.

Virtually every day you open the paper there are articles about the property market, reporting, for example:-

The BMA Scotland have warned that GP’s today are dealing with ever increasing workloads as the total number of GP practices in Scotland has fallen by 70 in the past 10 years.  The decrease in practices and an estimated 10% increase consultations since records began in 2003 mean that there is an increased risk of doctors “burning out” from the stress of their workload.

The Court of Session has reinstated a tribunal's decision that an employee, dismissed for an alleged domestic assault on his partner (who also happened to be his colleague), was unfair under section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Since the dismissing officer expressly accepted that the employee had acted in self-defence, it could not be said that he believed in the employee's culpability. In these circumstances, the tribunal had been entitled to find that the employer had not established that the reason, or principal reason, for the employee's dismissal was misconduct. In any event, the employer's investigation was inadequate and unreasonable.

A national campaign launched by road safety charity Brake has called on drivers to tune in to road safety, to prevent appalling crashes caused by multi-tasking at the wheel.