The City of London Corporation recently released its latest update on the economic outlook for London.
The report is available for anyone to download and the key points included:
GROWTH
London is expected to see a small increase in GVA (Gross Value Added) of around .4% in 2010 (estimates are that the region saw a fall of GVA of almost 5% in 2009).
Further growth up to 3.1% in 2011.
The construction sector is expected to make a strong bounce back with a GVA increase of 7% in 2010 as some Olympic effects feed throug and house building picks up.
EMPLOYMENT
There was 'only' a 2% reduction (almost 100,000 jobs) in employment in 2009
However, the financial services sector lost 4%, the business services sector (real esate, rent and insurance)saw a 3.8% fall and London's shrinking manufacturing sector fell 8.5%.
A further 20,000 job losses are forecast for 2010.
WORLD POSITION
The latest Global Financial Centres report has London level pegging with New York when it comes to competitiveness in financial services. But there are fears of a regulatory structure being imposed that limits the freedom of financial institutions and higher levels of corporate and personal tax.
OTHER FACTORS
The second half of 2009 saw UK house prices rising strongly but the market has cooled since then. London continues to perform better than the US average according to major lenders and teh Department for Communitities and Local Government. House prices in London forecast to increase by 2.1% in 2010 with a slowdown in 2011.
Overall though, the report was positive - from 2011 onwards London is expected to perform significantly better than the UK average because London's performance has been strongly linked to global fortunes and this relationship is exptected to hold.
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
“Sweet smell of success for Trade Mark Owners – Bad odour for consumers” by Stephen Welfare
In a victory for trade mark owners, the UK Court of Appeal has followed the ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that the use of a registered trade mark in a comparison list telling customers which famous fragrance the Defendants “smell-alike” products resemble was an infringement; L’Oréal -v- Bellure and Others [2010] CA.
L’Oréal complained that Bellure and Others “smell-alike” products were marketed in a packaging which took unfair advantage of its own product names, packaging and brand image, contrary to the Trade Marks Act 1994 and corresponding EU Trade Marks Directive. L’Oréal also contended that comparison lists, comparing L’Oréal’s marked brands with the Defendant’s products, similarly took advantage of it’s registered trade marks when used to sell the Defendant’s products and when dealing with customers’ queries.
In the judgment handed down on 21st May 2010, the Court of Appeal upheld L’Oréal’s complaint. The court felt obliged to do so following an earlier ruling of the ECJ but was clearly unhappy at having to do so. Lord Justice Jacobs said “The ECJ’s decision in this case means that poor consumers are the losers. Only the poor would dream of buying the Defendant’s products. The real thing is beyond their wildest dream. Yet they are denied their right to receive information which would give them a little bit of pleasure, the ability to buy a product for a Euro or so which they know smells like a famous perfume.”
Stephen Welfare of Royds’ Intellectual Property Unit commented: “We may expect to see the continuation of price comparison websites and the likes of supermarkets using the comparative advertising rules, for the benefit of consumers shopping around for good value, but anyone now thinking of doing so to promote their goods or services must be very wary of comparing their products or their products characteristics to those of established brands.”
L’Oréal complained that Bellure and Others “smell-alike” products were marketed in a packaging which took unfair advantage of its own product names, packaging and brand image, contrary to the Trade Marks Act 1994 and corresponding EU Trade Marks Directive. L’Oréal also contended that comparison lists, comparing L’Oréal’s marked brands with the Defendant’s products, similarly took advantage of it’s registered trade marks when used to sell the Defendant’s products and when dealing with customers’ queries.
In the judgment handed down on 21st May 2010, the Court of Appeal upheld L’Oréal’s complaint. The court felt obliged to do so following an earlier ruling of the ECJ but was clearly unhappy at having to do so. Lord Justice Jacobs said “The ECJ’s decision in this case means that poor consumers are the losers. Only the poor would dream of buying the Defendant’s products. The real thing is beyond their wildest dream. Yet they are denied their right to receive information which would give them a little bit of pleasure, the ability to buy a product for a Euro or so which they know smells like a famous perfume.”
Stephen Welfare of Royds’ Intellectual Property Unit commented: “We may expect to see the continuation of price comparison websites and the likes of supermarkets using the comparative advertising rules, for the benefit of consumers shopping around for good value, but anyone now thinking of doing so to promote their goods or services must be very wary of comparing their products or their products characteristics to those of established brands.”
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
All change for the Family Wealth Department by Patrick Hart
Whilst Royds is probably best known for all its commercial work, a significant part of the business is involved in serving the needs of private individuals - whether they are senior executives working in the City of London or on overseas assignments, families with large estates in the Home Counties, media and sports celebrities or entrepreneurial company directors.
Because we help these individuals with a wide range of different issues - whether it is tax planning, dealing with the death of a family member, coping with separation and divorce or moving home we have brought together all the lawyers from our family, private client and residential teams to create the Family Wealth Department.
We are also delighted to welcome Chris Hall, who joined us at the start of May, as the new head of Private Client Services. Next time you are near Carter Lane, please pop in for a cup of coffee to say hello.
Because we help these individuals with a wide range of different issues - whether it is tax planning, dealing with the death of a family member, coping with separation and divorce or moving home we have brought together all the lawyers from our family, private client and residential teams to create the Family Wealth Department.
We are also delighted to welcome Chris Hall, who joined us at the start of May, as the new head of Private Client Services. Next time you are near Carter Lane, please pop in for a cup of coffee to say hello.
Retail Property Quiz by Jodie Evans and Baz Nahar
On 29th April 10 teams representing organisations such as Arcadia, Monsoon, East, EAT, Caffe Nero, Scribbler and Pardoe & Wood met at Davy's Wine Bar in Creed Lane, just around the corner from Royds' offices, for the second Annual Retail Property Quiz.
Entry fees and raffle tickets (where the prizes included Eurostar tickets and vouchers for Gordon Ramsey's restaurant and The Sanctuary) were used to raise money for the Retail Trust charity.
There were various rounds of questions, posed expertly by Mark the manager of Davy's, on subjects as diverse as general knowledge, sport, geography and gameshow catch phrases and inbetween everyone sustained themselves with tapas brainfood and the odd alcoholic beverage.
The Royds team was out in force - head of property Robert LLoyd-Davies and property partner Gareth Williams led the rest of the commercial property team including Baz Nahar, Mark Newbold and Jodie Evans.
There was also a team of other Royds folk with Lucy Tangen, David Bowman and Mike Smith from litigation supported by Stewart Wilkinson who is head of commercial litigation and also managing partner.
Meanwhile, Adam Maberly from residential property, employment partner Gemma Webb and corporate partner Duncan Holden joined a team comprising people from Arcadia and East.
But demonstrating that keeping alert with the aid of caffeine is a winning formula, the trophy this year was won by the team from Caffe Nero. We are already looking forward to next year.
Entry fees and raffle tickets (where the prizes included Eurostar tickets and vouchers for Gordon Ramsey's restaurant and The Sanctuary) were used to raise money for the Retail Trust charity.
There were various rounds of questions, posed expertly by Mark the manager of Davy's, on subjects as diverse as general knowledge, sport, geography and gameshow catch phrases and inbetween everyone sustained themselves with tapas brainfood and the odd alcoholic beverage.
The Royds team was out in force - head of property Robert LLoyd-Davies and property partner Gareth Williams led the rest of the commercial property team including Baz Nahar, Mark Newbold and Jodie Evans.
There was also a team of other Royds folk with Lucy Tangen, David Bowman and Mike Smith from litigation supported by Stewart Wilkinson who is head of commercial litigation and also managing partner.
Meanwhile, Adam Maberly from residential property, employment partner Gemma Webb and corporate partner Duncan Holden joined a team comprising people from Arcadia and East.
But demonstrating that keeping alert with the aid of caffeine is a winning formula, the trophy this year was won by the team from Caffe Nero. We are already looking forward to next year.
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