Category: Latest News

Please note that our offices will close Wednesday 24^th December 2014 at 1pm and reopen on Friday 2^nd January 2015 at 9am.

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Tony and Jan Jenkinson were fined £100 by the Broadway Hotel in Blackpool for a leaving a negative TripAdvisor review about it, where they described the hotel as a ‘rotten, stinking hovel’.

The hotel introduced a policy of charging people who left bad reviews with the hope of preventing customers from ‘defaming’ the business. After seeing the bad review, the hotel charged £100 to the couple’s credit card.

The hotel has now cancelled its policy after warning by Blackpool Trading Standards that it could be illegal and it has since refunded the £100 to Tony and Jan Jenkinson.

A further issue

Cases like this highlight a further problem with websites such as TripAdvisor and their effect on businesses. In its 14 years of existence, TripAdvisor has introduced the notion of public criticism of hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses that we are used to seeing for films or music. Although the case of Tony and Jenkinson, the bad review was genuine, the problem is that reviews on TripAdvisor can be posted without verification and so there is nothing stopping customers threatening bad reviews in order to get a discount.

We are left with trying to find a balance between someone’s ‘right to give fair comment’ and the reputation of a hotel, which could be unfairly tarnished if this ‘right to give fair comment’ was abused.

Final thoughts

It is unlikely, as we saw with the Broadway Hotel that hotels will be able to protect themselves from unfair reviews by introducing a policy, as this could be legally problematic. It seems a compromise between the consumer and the business is necessary, in that consumers provide genuine, honest opinions if they choose to leave a review, and for businesses to focus on improving the services they provide.

Stephen Puri, Chief Executive

Social media has come under fire in recent days after the revelation that the perpetrators of the murder of soldier Lee Rigby could have been prevented from carrying out their atrocious crime, merely if their social media activity had been more closely monitored.

Facebook allows users to report any offensive content on the site, and claims to take all reports very seriously. The social media giant claims to have deleted various profiles created by one of the murderers of Lee Rigby as they had been flagged up as promoting terrorism. Questions are now being raised as to whom undertakes this form of monitoring and how often it is undertaken, seeing as Facebook alone now has a total of over 1.2 billion users worldwide.

However, it is clear that a balance needs to be found between not monitoring suspicious activity closely enough, and monitoring other forms of private information that is exchanged between social media users. Earlier this year Edward Snowden claimed that governments were undertaking mass surveillance of citizens through their online activity, which they labelled as ‘external communications’.

It remains to be seen just how far online monitoring, or ‘spying’ as some may call it, can be taken. It is vital however, that the correct balance is found in order to promote the underlying aim: to make citizens feel safe.

Amarjit Atwal, Trainee Solicitor 

aatwal@astonbond.co.uk

Wearable technology is tipped to be the next ‘big thing’ by many of the industry’s leading experts. Apple’s Watch and the controversial Google Glass are testaments to that, showing that wearables have the backing of the two tech giants of the world. But what are the legal implications of wearing such items?

These devices are connected to your internet enabled smartphones, and from there they have the ability to upload and download data. Due to their discrete nature, they have come under fire for breaching people’s privacy rights. For example, these devices can record high quality video, and snap images without others around them becoming aware. Their ability to film like this has led to many cinema company’s around the world calling for use of the devices to be banned whilst on their premises.

But what does the law state when it comes to their communication ability? A recent US case involved a Google Glass wearer who was caught speeding. As the police officer pulled her over, he noticed she was wearing the glasses and  proceeded to issue her a ticket for breach of a ‘distracted-driving’ law. However, the driver was later cleared of these charges, even though the case continues to be positively referred to in other cases involving the use of illegal screens whilst driving.

The Department for Transport have issued a warning in regards to driving whilst using wearable technology. If an accident is caused, and a trace of messages or calls can be found in relation to that time period, police can prove that you were texting or using your wearable tech to send messages whilst driving. For example, if you were sending a message via your smartwatch, this would be considered illegal. However this can cause confusion, as many of these devices offer the same style of ‘hands-free’ mode that smartphones offer. There still is no direct law regarding the use of wearables when driving, but as the popularity of these devices increases, such legislation will certainly become required. Being caught behind the wheel whilst unsafely operating a device such as the Apple Watch would carry a fixed penalty notice of £100 and three penalty points. In more serious cases where accidents are involved, it could be taken to court where drivers face disqualification and a maximum £1,000 fine.

Another issue surrounding technology with the ability to record footage, is privacy. At what stage do these items start to invade our privacy beyond the point of our control? Anyone can walk through the street filming using one of these devices, but how does the law differ to filming using a more conventional camera? Well, surprisingly it doesn’t differ, and you can legally film in a public place without breaking any laws, as long as you are not doing it for commercial purposes, ie making money from the footage.

Does wearable technology scare you in any way? Or do you feel it’s another necessary step in the right direction? As a bit of a ‘tech geek’, I personally feel that being able to send a text message from your watch is an interesting concept, but I cannot help but feel that there will be many implications and laws that restrict their use.

Joel Chapman, Online Marketing Executive

jchapman@astonbond.co.uk

The Team at Aston Bond co-hosted a successful seminar at the Copthorne Hotel in Slough  on Thursday 30 October 2014, the event was related to the topics of Intellectual Property (IP), Research and Development (R&D) Tax credits and the Patent Box initiative. The event was hosted alongside HMRC, LDP Luckmans Accountants  and R&T Consultants and achieved a fantastic turnout.

The topics were presented by specialists in the industry and were designed to illustrate the opportunities available to SME’s that are currently not being utilised. There are clearly tax savings in the form of tax credits available with the assistance of specialists  and further initiatives open to SME’s that even we hadn’t realised!

Jagdeep Sandher spoke about what IP is, how it can be formed, protected and more importantly how it can be exploited and monetised. Attendees were shocked to realise that they held more IP than they had realised and that it could be protected.

Aston Bond shall be hosting further events on IP and shall be announcing them shortly, so stay tuned!