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UK government scraps "reading tax" early due to corona lockdown The different VAT treatment of electronic publications and their physical world equivalents has long been controversial.  As discussed previously on The Lens, in the Spring Budget 2020 back in early March 2020, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that with...
“AI AI captain, setting course ahead…” – European Parliament publishes draft report on IPRs for development and deployment of AI technologies AI is front page news these days. As we have seen here on the Lens, AI can already organise our lock-down lives from the kitchen counter, produce new antibiotic compounds in the fight against bacteria and create eye-wateringly expensive artwork - the...
When is a resident not a resident? It sounds like a bad joke, befitting of a tax lawyer in lockdown, but is really just a reminder to check the small print in double tax treaties.   It was prompted by seeing Andrea Manzitti’s post on an Italian Supreme Court decision in relation to a claim...
Trust recognised as a “person”, but fails to get treaty benefits A UK trust is a “person” for the purposes of the Italy-UK double tax treaty - that is the good news coming out of a recent Italian Supreme Court decision. The bad news is that trusts may nonetheless struggle to obtain treaty benefits; they will certainly...
UPC Update: UK IP Minister confirms no UPC for UK As we discussed in a previous post here, the House of Lords EU Justice Sub-Committee met on 10 March 2020 to examine the impact that the UK's non participation in the EU’s Unified Patent Court (UPC) and Unitary Patent (UP) system would have on UK...
Is Covid-19 making hopes of UK adequacy fade further? Privacy in a pandemic Prior to the pandemic, hopes of the UK being deemed adequate by the European Commission by the end of the transition period were cautious at best. Covid-19 poses yet another obstacle. Adequacy decisions typically take around 18 months, and the UK is 13th...
‘NHS COVID-19’ app: are privacy concerns justified? The Government’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) published a blog this week on the new NHS COVID-19 app, explaining that the origins of contact tracing in the UK could be linked back to this country’s response to the Black Death. While the...
Sky kicks infringement goal in tech trade mark match with SkyKick The numerous trade mark disputes between Sky plc and SkyKick UK Ltd in the UK and EU courts have been important in the development of trade mark law. In this latest round, Arnold LJ applied the CJEU decision from January 2020 (see blog here and full...
Certification: ENISA's view on the problems and how to fix them On 15th April* ENISA published a report on advancing software security in the EU as part of its activities to support the EU’s cyber certification work. The report notes that as security breaches increase, it is “striking how fundamental security...
Will rejecting the EU's new copyright directive #savetheinternet? In a U-turn against its policy under Theresa May’s government, the UK has indicated that it will not implement the EU’s new Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (the "Directive”) now it has left the EU.  On 16 January 2020, UK Minister for...