There is no judicially accepted definition of the term ‘force majeure’, so what the parties mean by it must be expressly set out in the contract (ie just referring to ‘force majeure’ doesn’t work) and any specific requirements relating to the procedural aspects of invoking a force majeure clause should be followed by the relevant parties. Force majeure provisions often state that, upon the occurrence of a specified event which is outside of a party’s reasonable control, that party will be excused from performing part or all of its specific obligations under the contract (and at some later point, maybe have a right to terminate the contract) and will not be liable for failing to perform those obligations. If a party wishes to trigger a force majeure clause, consider the following: Is it a defined ‘force majeure event’? This will depend on the scope of the definition of ‘force majeure’ or ‘force majeure event’ in the contract. A reference to ‘usual force majeure clauses’ has been held void for uncertainty.

The Notice A claim by a qualifying tenant to exercise the right to acquire a new lease of a flat must be made by serving a notice on the landlord in accordance with section 42 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 (LRHUDA 1993). Although the right is expressed as an extended lease, the actual method for giving effect to this right is for the tenant to be granted a new lease, in substitution for the existing lease, for a term equal to the unexpired residue of the existing lease plus 90 years. It is worth noting that not all leases are capable of being extended. For more information on leases which cannot be extended and the qualifying criteria for those which can, please see Practice Notes: Guide to the right to enfranchisement and lease extensions of houses under the Leasehold

Issues to consider Sound recordings have copyright protection separate from that which exists in the underlying musical work comprising the song lyrics and music. Often the sound recording will contain a copyright protection symbol on it shown as a P in a circle (℗), denoting this particular right exists in the sound recording. Most sound recordings and other musical works are likely to be protected by copyright. As with other types of copyright there are a number of relevant restricted acts. These are outlined in the sections 16–20 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988): • copying the recording • issuing copies of it to the public (circulating) • renting or lending copies of it to the public • playing it in public • communicating it to the public Businesses play music for different purposes: a business may play music to a factory floor or play music to telephone callers while they are kept on hold. Some purposes might fall within the exceptions

Such an application for permission to appeal is to be made under CPR 52 and CPR PD 52C to the Court of Appeal, Civil Division by way of an Appellant’s Notice (Form N161) lodged at court within 21 days (or such other period as the court might direct) of the decision being appealed being made. By way of context, the relevant procedural steps preceding such an application are, typically, as follows: • the relevant New York Convention arbitration award is issued by the tribunal (the Arbitration Award) • the Arbitration Award is not satisfied by the award debtor giving rise to a need for the award creditor to seek its judicial recognition, and enforcement • the award creditor makes an application (an arbitration claim) to the Commercial Court for permission to enforce the Arbitration Award in the same manner as a judgment

Practice Note: Social media and user-generated content examines the legal risks associated with leveraging social media and user-generated content and provides practical guidance about how parties engaged in such activities can mitigate those risks. Increasingly, businesses are encouraging consumers to contribute material to branded social media platforms and incorporating these contributions into consumer-focused advertising and marketing campaigns. Social media content submitted by consumers

Copyright in photographs The Internet may be perceived as an extensive free photo bank to most lay users but permission is usually required to use a photo obtained on line. Most original photographs qualify for copyright protection as artistic works. Photographs that qualify for protection are usually those where individual choices have been made on visual effects or composition: just pushing the button might not do it (but it might if you are in 'the right place at the right time'). For more information on whether copyright subsists in a photograph, see Practice Notes: The scope of photographic copyright and Copyright—subsistence and qualification. Find the owner If you see a photograph in a hard copy publication you should contact the publisher in order to check the status of the photograph and as a starting point for licensing its use. For users who find photographs (digital images) online, for example on social networking sites such as Google+, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter, finding the owner can be more difficult. Most digital images contain

This Practice Note considers how you may assign a claim or cause of action in law or in equity, including the specific issues to consider when drafting the assignment, such as recoverable losses and costs liability post-assignment. It considers the timing for such assignment and the procedural impact of assigning a claim pre- and post-commencement of proceedings on the assignee and the assignor (including amending the statements of case and joinder of additional parties). For guidance on when you may assign a claim or cause of action, see Practice Note: In what circumstances can you assign a claim or cause of action? Note: in this Practice Note, we refer to the assignment of both causes of action and claims. We define a cause of action as ‘...a factual situation the existence of which entitles one person to obtain from the court a remedy against another person’ (Letang v Cooper) and a claim as the formal assertion of a cause of action by a claimant against

Set a budget but be prepared for unanticipated costs Setting a budget involves taking a long term view as intellectual property (IP) rights can take years to register. Even though registration costs may seem prohibitive at the outset, these costs may be spread over several years. A common mistake is rushing to register IP rights and then abandoning the relevant applications at a later stage because of lack of funds owing to a poorly planned budget. Generally, patents are the most expensive and time consuming right to register, followed by trade marks and designs. Domain names are the cheapest to register, although they are not strictly IP rights. Obtain a fee estimate for official and professional fees from an experienced patent or trade mark attorney at an early stage and ensure this is revisited and revised regularly as the scope of registration is likely to change. An attorney will present different routes to obtaining protection and the cost implications (eg using the Madrid system to obtain international trade mark protection or applying for trade

Where transactions are ‘linked’ for stamp duty land tax (SDLT) purposes, the consideration for the linked transactions is aggregated in order to determine the applicable rate of tax. Under section 108 of the Finance Act 2003 (FA 2003) transactions are linked if they form part of a single scheme, arrangement or series of transactions between the same vendor and purchaser, or in either case, persons connected with them (connected for these purposes is as set out in section 1122 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 (CTA 2010)). HMRC guidance sets out that a ‘series of transactions’ means something more than that one transaction following the other and that there must be something else to connect the transactions

If the lease says that the term runs ‘from and including’ a certain date, or ‘commencing on’ a certain date, that date is included in the term. That date will therefore be the anniversary of the term commencement date. Generally, if the lease says that the term runs ‘from’

An individual is entitled to a redundancy payment when: • he is an employee • he has been continuously employed for not less than two years • he has been dismissed • the dismissal was by reason of redundancy The redundancy payment itself is calculated by: • determining the employee's number of complete years of continuous employment ending with the 'relevant date' • allowing the appropriate number of weeks for each year • multiplying that total number of allowed weeks by the current figure for a week's pay, calculated in the usual way), subject to the statutory cap which is currently £479 per week For further information, see our Practice Note: Entitlement to statutory redundancy

Statutory maternity pay (SMP) There are in general two rates of SMP: the higher rate and the lower rate. During the first six weeks of the maternity pay period, the higher rate is payable, which is 90% of the employee's normal weekly earnings during the eight weeks immediately before the 14th week before the expected week of confinement. After the first six weeks, the lower rate is payable for the remaining part of the maternity pay period. The lower rate is the lesser of: • the higher rate, and • a set rate, currently £140.98 per week with effect from 6 April 2017 The basis for calculating the higher rate is actual earnings averaged over the relevant period. Where the employee is paid at intervals of one or more months, her monthly pay is converted to a weekly average by dividing the total pay by the number of pay months within