MLex: A planned mass claim against a UK music copyright collective over alleged unfair distribution of royalty payments won’t be allowed to go to trial, judges at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruled today. David Rowntree, known as the drummer from British rock band Blur, had sought compensation from the Performing Rights Society (PRS) for thousands of songwriters over ‘black box’ royalties—ones that can’t be matched and paid to the correct artist.

The Performing Rights Society (PRS), a UK music copyright collective, faces an antitrust claim from a group of songwriters over its licensing practices for live public performances and royalty distribution. This comes on top of an existing planned collective lawsuit against PRS regarding similar issues.

Law360, London: Regulation in the UK has become heavily weighted toward risk rather than growth and its 'structural bias', which creates layers of rules in the financial services sector, must be tackled, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said on 18 December 2024.

Law360, London: The UK government's draft cryptoassets regulatory regime risks failing to attract overseas digital finance vendors unless it accepts business from jurisdictions with comparable regulations through reciprocal equivalence arrangements, legal experts have warned.

Law360, London: The UK's sanctions regime is increasingly unfit for purpose and must reform to tackle new complex forms of aggression, such as cyberattacks and economic sabotage, the former Lord Chancellor urged on 5 June 2025.

MLex: Product and online marketplace safety rules in the UK need a new framework post-Brexit that gives officials more flexibility to respond to emerging risks, a minister has argued as he defended a proposed overhaul of the legal framework. A separate consultation launched recently by the Office for Product Safety and Standards has started looking to more direct alignment with changes in the EU in some cases.

Law360, London: A UK oil company is not liable for a £167 million increase to its taxable profits because for tax purposes it should not be treated as having acquired an oil-related business following an intra-group transfer, according to an Upper Tribunal (UT) decision handed down on 7 April 2026.

MLex: View and Prove, a UK government online tool for people to check their immigration status without physical documents, still involves high residual privacy risks, a report by the interior ministry shows. The Home Office's data protection impact assessment said some unresolved risks, such as individuals misunderstanding how their data is used or being shown inaccurate information, are mitigated but not fully eliminated. The online service, which is part of the eVisa system, is used for around 900,000 checks per month to help migrants prove their status and access to employment, housing or public services.

Onshore windfarms in the UK are typically designed and consented for an operational life of approximately 20 to 25 years. As a substantial proportion of UK’s existing fleet approaches this threshold through the late 2020s and 2030s, the onshore wind sector faces a material shift in focus from new build deployment to asset optimisation. This is driving a growing interest among onshore windfarm project owners and developers in either extending the operational life of existing assets, or repowering their windfarms (known, respectively, as ‘extension of life’ or ‘repowering’ projects). This Practice Note provides an overview of UK onshore wind extension of life and repowering projects. It explains what these projects are and why windfarm owners or developers may wish to invest in them. It also sets out some of the key issues for onshore windfarm owners/developers and, in the context of repowering projects, for project finance lenders, including: corporate structure and ownership, licensing, revenue strategy, grid connection, EPC, O&M, planning and permitting, property rights and project finance considerations. It

This timeline shows key developments relating to UK operational resilience requirements for financial services firms from January 2024 onwards. For earlier developments, see: Operational resilience—timeline [Archived]. 2026 Date Source Document Description 28 July 2026 FCAPRA Strengthening resilience across an increasingly interconnected financial system The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published an article by its director of specialists, Mark Francis, co-written with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)’s director of supervisory risk specialists, Simon Dixon, on operational resilience across the financial services sector, the new oversight regime, and the designation of the first critical third parties. In the article they note that, as the regime is now live, firms should continue to consider how they identify, test and manage dependencies on critical services, while designated critical third parties should engage openly with regulators and firms, including through testing and information-sharing.See: FCA and PRA directors discuss the critical third parties regime. 10 July 2026 BoEFCA UK financial regulators to begin overseeing Critical Third Parties announced by HM TreasuryCritical Third Parties: Strengthening UK Financial Services The Bank

The UK parliament has announced the personal injury discount rate review commenced by the Lord Chancellor (the Chancellor), Shabana Mahmood. This is required by The Damages Act 1996, as amended by the Civil Liability Act 2018. The Damages Act requires that the Chancellor, in conducting the review, must consult  an expert panel (which has already been appointed for this review in June 2023) and HM Treasury. Both consultees are then required by the Act to respond to the Chancellor’s consultation within 90 days. In accordance with these statutory requirements, the Chancellor commenced this review on 15 July 2024, with the consequence that the Chancellor must conduct the review and make the determination regarding the rate on or before 11 January 2025.

Patents protect inventions that are new, involve an inventive step and are capable of industrial application. A patent gives its proprietor the right to prevent others from carrying out certain acts in relation to the invention, including making, using, selling or importing a patented product, without consent. This Practice Note signposts the key provisions of the Patents Act 1977 (PA 1977) and the Patents Rules 2007, SI 2007/3291 (PR 2007), and provides a brief overview of the key elements of patent protection, exploitation and enforcement in the UK, linking out to detailed guidance on specific issues. The focus of this Practice Note is the PA 1977 and PR 2007 but, where relevant it also signposts key provisions of other legislation, such as the remedies set out in Senior Courts Act 1981 (SCA 1981), and the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). It also discusses the European Patent Convention (EPC) and Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Patent applications A patent is a registered right which must be obtained through an application process. When a patent application is filed, the UK Intellectual Property Office