Glossary of terms

Job given to a solicitor

This refers to a product of creative or intellectual endeavour, including an innovation, design, trading style, artistic work or literary work

Business assets derived from intellectual property rights

A legal right to protect a form of intellectual property - such as a patent right, design right, trade mark right or copyright.

This places a child in the care of the local authority on an interim basis whilst the family is assessed and until the court can make a final decision

A court hearing which does not reach a final decision

An order during the course of court proceedings which is not the final order

A payment made as a result of a court order or as offered by an opponent before the case is settled

Interim or pending a full order

This refers to the situation where a person who has died has not made a valid will

What are the intestacy rules?The intestacy rules take effect when a person has not made a will or the will is not legally valid. The deceased's property and other assets are then distributed between their family in accordance with these rules, which are set by law.

This refers to an unauthorised use of intellectual property

This is a new device, method, or process developed from study and experimentation

In today's electronic age the vast majority of businesses have a website. Some trade using it while others just use it as a means of advertising (a "brochure" site). What many businesses do not do have is a website that is fully compliant with the law.Most businesses that sell goods via their website are aware of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations and the obligation to give a consumer a seven working day cooling-off period in which they can cancel the contract. However, the Distance Selling Regulations are more complicated than this. For example, they prescribe that certain written information must be given to the customer on or before the goods are delivered and, if a business fails to do this, the cooling period can extend up to three months and seven days after the goods are delivered. At Birkett Long we regularly come across businesses that do not understand the complexities of the Distance Selling Regulations and/or are not aware of the raft of other legislation that website operators need comply with.We see businesses failing to comply with even the most basic obligations. For example, the Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2008 requires every company and LLP to have the following on all of its websites:the full name of the company or LLP as registered at Company's House;its registered number;its registered office address; andthe place of registration (e.g. England and Wales).The Business Names Act 1985 imposes similar requirements on sole traders and partnerships who must include the following on their websites:in the case of a sole trader, the individual's name;in the case of a partnership, the name of each member of the partnership; andin either case, in relation to each person named, an address in the UK at which service of any document relating in any way to the business will be effective.Even though a breach of the Trading Disclosures Regulations or the Business Names Act is a criminal offence which could result in fines being imposed on the directors of a company or members of a LLP themselves as well as the company or LLP, huge numbers of website operators are not complying with these straightforward obligations.Other laws which website operators must be aware of include the Equality Act 2010, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC) Regulations 2011. The Equality Act makes it illegal for a website operator to discriminate against a disabled person and requires reasonable adjustments to be made to a site to enable a disabled person to use it. If a website operator wants to keep the names and addresses and other details of customers who visit their site, it is vital to comply with the Data Protection Act. Putting a 'Privacy Statement' on the site will assist with this but there are various other obligations that must be met. The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations contain laws relating to the use of cookies and require operators to get the consent of users before they place cookies on a user's browser. The legal issues relating to websites are vast and it is therefore not possible to discuss them all in this article. We recommend that anyone setting up a website takes advice as soon as possible as early action is essential. In the context of making reasonable adjustments in order to comply with the Equality Act, those adjustments may only cost a relatively small amount if they are incorporated in the design at the time the site is originally developed. They can be very expensive if they have to be made at a later date.

To initiate legal proceedings in pursuit of a claim

This refers to shares that have been allotted and issued and held by shareholders

Where two or more people enter into an obligation together, joint and several liability allows that the lender or creditor to recover debt from any one of them

Where people jointly own assets or property. The ownership passes to the survivor on the death of the other party

This can be used where two or more existing businesses agree to co-operate and combine their resources with a view to profit

An officer appointed to administer the law and who has authority to hear and try cases in a Court of Law

The final decision of a Court A Judge's final decision

The review of decisions of lower courts and public bodies by the High Court

A decree short of divorce, under which a couple remains legally married but their normal marital obligations cease and they no longer have to go on living together

The area and the matters over which a Court has legal authority