Aston Bond’s Landlord & Tenant Seminar

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Aston Bond hosted a Landlord & Tenant Seminar on the 25th of September 2014. The seminar covered many topics including Section 8 and Section 21 notices.

We received fantastic feedback from the attendees, with many left wanting more! The feedback received will be essential to make the next seminar an even bigger success.

Alongside talks from solicitors Dion McCarthy and Jagdeep Sandher, the seminar provided a useful networking opportunity and gave us the chance to meet with existing contacts, whilst being introduced to others from the industry.

The team here at Aston Bond all enjoyed the opportunity to host the event, and we would like to thank all attendees for helping to make the event a success.

We will be hosting many more seminars in the near future, for more information please email info@astonbond.co.uk.

If you would like to request a copy of the presentation used on the night, please email jchapman@astonbond.co.uk

 

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Feedback received on the night: 

“Excellent speakers, superb welcome”

“The presentation was informal but practical”

“Delivered clearly and succinctly”

 

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Watch the seminar below:

 

Aston Bond takes on the Ice Bucket Challenge

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On the 28th of August, the Aston Bond team undertook the Ice Bucket Challenge in order to raise money for charity. We are in support of the charity Motor Neurone Disease Association, their Just Giving page can be found here. The MND Association is the only national charity in England, Wales and Northern Ireland dedicated to improve care and support for people affected by MND, fund and promote research, and campaign and raise awareness so the needs of people with MND are addressed by society. Visit www.mndassociation.org.

 

Watch the video of our Ice Bucket Challenge and find out who we nominated!

Game developers sued over “personality rights” infringements

July was a busy month in the world of claims against video game developers and publishers. American celebrities are suing many large corporations for using their likeness in video games without their permission, as abreach of their ‘personality rights’.

Rockstar’s hugely popular Grand Theft Auto V’s character ‘Lacey Jonas’ has come under scrutiny for her marked resemblance to controversial actress Lindsay Lohan. Lohan has filed a law suit against the creators of Grand Theft Auto V, claiming that there is an “unequivocal” reference to her appearance, clothing and likeness. The clothing that Lacey is seen wearing in the game is quite clearly modelled on Lohan’s style and the character even lives in one of the hotels that Lohan used to frequent – something that is not being viewed as a coincidence.lohan lonas
However, it is not just Lindsay Lohan who is aggrieved by a character copying her style in a video game. Political figure Manuel Noriega is suing video game hotshots Activision Blizzard for using his name and likeness without obtaining the required permission. The character features in the hugely popular ‘Black Ops II’ video game, and Noreiga claims the game developers show him as ‘a kidnapper, murderer and enemy of the state’. He also claims that the use of his image led to ‘profits that they would otherwise not have made’.

In the US individuals possess what is known as ‘personality rights’ and therefore reserve the right to claim against anyone they believe is using their likeness, unauthorised, to endorse their products or services.

While these sort of claims are rife in the US, here in the UK we do not have any explicit ‘personality rights’. Instead, celebrities may be able to claim that others are passing off images as relating to them or infringing their trademarks.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen what the US courts make of these high profile cases.

 

Joel Chapman, Marketing

‘Marilyn Monroe’ comes to Aston Bond

Link to the article from the Slough Express

Stephen and Marilyn PaperBizarre birthday surprises have become a tradition at Aston Bond, 3 years ago, an anonymous group of employees had an interesting birthday cake designed for their boss Stephen Puri, one such that is suitable only for mature pairs of eyes only. They thought that their boss would appreciate the design of the cake. Apparently he did not!

Not deterred by their boss’s less than impressed reaction to the rude cake, the following year the group of employees had a birthday cake designed of the CEO’s face.

Last year, in keeping with the newly formed tradition, the group of employees had a life size cardboard-cut-out designed of the CEO, which now takes pride of place in the office.

This year, with expectations at fever pitch, the anonymous group of employees (believed to be growing by the year) thought that they would go all-out.

The group called upon Suzie Kennedy, a world renowned Marilyn Monroe lookalike, to attend the firm’s office and sing Stephen happy birthday. The Marilyn Monroe lookalike appeared, to Stephen’s shock, singing “happy birthday Mr President”, during an end of month staff lunch. Marilyn also sang “I wanna be loved by you” and “My heart belongs to daddy”, truly living up to Marilyn Monroe’s iconic status.

A huge cake was also designed of the firm’s new offices on Windsor Road, Slough – another fantastic surprise.

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Stephen said, shortly after the performance, that he was rarely short of words but on this occasion he was certainly speechless!

The group of employees who organised the event were delighted with the success of the event and most importantly, the shock caused to their boss! Rumours have already begun about what next year’s instalment will bring…

 

Are the UK breaking EU data retention laws?

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In 2009, the Data Retention Regulations (SI 2009/859) were implemented by the Labour government in response to the 2006 EU Data Retention Directive which required the EU states to store citizens’ data for a minimum of six months, and for up to 24 months. In the UK, the current law is for Internet and phone providers to keep data for 12 months. However, the European Court of Justice declared the original 2006 law invalid in April 2014, it claimed; “it’s a serious interference with the right to privacy and the right to protection of personal data”. The previous EU Directive allowed the government to retain phone calls, text messages and internet messages for up to 18 months.

Since then, the UK has come under fire and is allegedly breaking the law by continuing to implement the Data Retention Regulations of 2009, despite the EU changing its policies. It is unclear as to why the government hasn’t forced Internet Service Providers and Communications Providers to change their policies, with the information it is providing to companies being described as unclear.

Controversy

However, the UK has recently passed an ‘emergency’ Data Retention and Investigation Powers Bill. This Bill allows data to be intercepted from any ‘remote storage’ and for data to be retained for up to 12 months.

Critics have argued that this Bill allows the UK to expand its powers relating to data retention, under the justification of prevention of terrorism. The actions of the UK in not following the EU’s recently set policies are somewhat surprising. The ‘emergency’ law will still be in effect as late as 2016, so ISPs and communication companies will continue monitoring our calls, browsing and online activities.

 

Joel Chapman, Marketing Assistant

 

Aston Bond would like to congratulate Ajay Maru

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Aston Bond would like to send our congratulations to friend of the firm Ajay Maru. Mr Maru is a Labour ward councillor for Kenton West, and has recently been appointed as Mayor of Harrow.

In a recent interview, he said “I am honoured to take on this role as Mayor and I am committed to supporting our residents and bringing communities together”. One of his focuses is to “help local business and the business community” claiming that Harrow helped his business to ‘flourish’.

We would like to wish Mr Maru all the best in his new role, from the team here at Aston Bond.

Aston Bond welcomes Sumeet Shangari

Sumeet is a member of the Aston Bond property team and specialises in all aspects of commercial and high value residential property. Sumeet has experience in dealing with a range of acquisitions, disposals, Landlord and Tenant matters and secured lending transactions.

Before joining Aston Bond Sumeet previously worked at Harold Benjamin solicitors in Harrow and Charlsey Harrison solicitors in Slough.

A week in the world of Aston Bond

Having spent a week at Aston Bond, I have nothing but praise for the firm. Aston Bond state that they are a law firm that is “traditional, yet different,” and that is exactly how I would describe the firm. Whilst maintaining the traditional high standards expected in the legal world, Aston Bond’s employees approach clients, each other and anyone else they come into contact with, with an approachable, friendly and down-to-earth manner.

On the Monday morning, my first day with Aston Bond, I was given the papers for a new urgent instruction, received that morning, to read in advance of a client meeting later that day. The client required representation at a hearing at Central London County Court on the Friday.

During the meeting, I learnt not only about the client and their need for help, but watching the Aston Bond solicitor in action epitomised the variety of skills utilised to get all the necessary information from the client.

Amongst other research and drafting based legal work, I followed this case through for the entire week, helping to draft the skeleton argument, using the Court bundle to prepare for the hearing and researching legal cases in this area of law to help provide a footing for our arguments.

We represented the said client in Court on the Friday, my final day with Aston Bond, and this experience is something I will never forget. Having attended Court on previous occasions, I had expectations of how the hearing would run, what the judge would be like and possibly even how the case may be ruled. However, this hearing was definitely not what I expected.

Interestingly, both parties were represented by solicitor advocates. It became clear very quickly that the judge reacted differently to my expectations. Instead of allowing each party to make their case and listening to both, the judge took an interventionist approach. He looked through the bundle asking each party specific, closed, questions. It appeared that he did not want to hear the persuasive cases of each party, but purely the facts regarding specific matters in order to make his decision on the case. Of course this was difficult for both solicitors, who could not use surrounding circumstances to persuade the judge that their client was not in the wrong, but ensured the judge’s views were objective and not clouded in any way.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Aston Bond and gained a lot of insight into the legal world. Following a case through from first instructions to hearing provided me with the opportunity to see all the various factors that are considered in every single legal case and confirmed for me that litigation is the area of law I want to pursue.

 

Chelsea Meade

Who governs the internet?

Is Cyberspace literally above the law?

There are those who argue that cyberspace is a separate sovereign space where laws and governments do not apply.

“You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement

This quote was taken from John Perry Barlow’s article published in 1996. Known as a cyber-libertarian political activist, basically meaning he helps defend your rights in the digital world, he also co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation, their sole aim is to battle and defend digital freedom in the courts.

On the face of it people like John Perry Barlow are saints as they take into consideration privacy, freedom of speech and fair use of the internet, but have they crossed a virtual border? Stating that if an individual is in the virtual/digital environment they have no governing or corporeal body to regulate them is a tad farfetched, a world without any laws and regulations sounds like a plot in a Hollywood movie.

In all honestly we should all keep our feet well-grounded, as even though an individual may be surfing the internet and “visiting” cyberspace, they technically may not have even left their front room, as we are not mysteriously transported into cyberspace.  This means that if one was to use the internet for illegal or anti-social behaviour they are subject to the laws and regulations of the country they reside in.

The whole truth and nothing but the truth

The truth is that there is no governing body of the internet per se instead there are volunteer groups which consist of:

Internet Activities Board (IAB) – The technical body that oversees the development of the Internet suite of protocols.  Within this organisation it has two task forces, the IETF and IRTF, which are responsible for investigating a specific area.

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) – Develops and maintains the Internet’s communication protocols. Addresses problems and coordinates new services. Appoints working groups to define standards, coordinate services between providers and performs the real work.

Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) – Looks into long-term research problems that could be critical in five to ten years.

In addition to these three bodies, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is seen as the technical coordination body for the Internet.

If there is no actual regulated body who governs the internet, a question must be raised. Can we regulate the actions of individuals in the digital environment at all?

Vinesh Patel, Paralegal

vpatel@astonbond.co.uk

Aston Bond Now Specialises in POCA Law

The Proceeds of Crime Act is an ever growing legal specialty and at Aston Bond solicitors in Slough we are proud to grow with it; and as a continuously growing law firm based in the heart of Slough, Berkshire Aston Bond now has specialist POCA law solicitors who assist clients across England and Wales including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol.

Our Proceeds of Crime Act solicitors can assist clients across England and Wales with a wide array of legal matters relating to POCA law including restraint orders, confiscation orders, post orders, cash forfeiture proceedings and appeals.

If you are looking for a POCA law solicitor in London, Southampton, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, or Leeds then our specialise POCA solicitors can assist you. For more information please visit our specialist POCA solicitor’s website or contact our Proceeds of Crime solicitors now.

Ashton Hudson, Online Marketing Executive 

ahudson@astonbond.co.uk


Our POCA law solicitors in Slough assist clients across England and Wales with restraint orders, post orders, cash forfeiture proceedings and more and can be contacted by calling 01753 486 777 or emailing info@astonbond.co.uk. Alternatively, you can visit our offices at 135 High Street, Slough, Berkshire, SL1 1DN.