As well as setting out the processes by which public contracts above a certain value are awarded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 also provide a mechanism by which unsuccessful bidders can appeal against the decision.

A contract is a written agreement which encompasses the oral and written negotiations and agreements of the parties. Provided that the necessary factors, such as offer and acceptance, consideration and intention to be contractually bound, are all present, a contract will be formed.

Franchising has been a means of commercialising products and services since the 1850s when Isaac Singer who had made improvements to an existing model of a sewing machine wanted to increase the distribution of his machines.

Legal philosopher John Austin took the view that a law was only valid to the extent that it was backed up by the threat of sanction; the theory being that we all need an incentive to comply with the laws which are imposed upon us.

An indemnity is a contractual promise by one party to make good a specific loss suffered by another. The indemnity entitles the indemnified party to a payment if the anticipated event does indeed take place. Simple enough?

Recently there has been a proliferation of online providers of so-called ‘micro loans’.

Latest figures from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising show that, with the exception of the internet, sales promotions are the leading form of marketing in the current financial downturn, underlining their importance in modern business practice.

The world-wide web celebrates its 16th birthday this year; sometimes it can be hard to take in quite how many aspects of our lives have been revolutionised by the internet in such a short space of time. With so many companies now carrying out all of their business via the web, this article takes a canter through some of the things to consider when setting-up and operating a website, especially one enabled for e-commerce.

Rapid advances in computer technology and the advent of the internet have created numerous new ways of doing business and, therefore, forming contracts. So what is the legal status of such online agreements? This article looks at the legislation governing online signatures in electronic commerce and direct selling, focusing in particular on the Trading Scheme Regulations 1997 and associated guidance.

You’ve performed all your obligations under the contract, but the other party hasn’t. What damages are you entitled to? Are there any other remedies which might serve your purposes? Lawrence Graham goes once more ‘unto the breach’.

This article is the first in a series of three articles looking at some of the key differences between contracts made under Indian law and those made under English law.

The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (2005/29/EC), replacing Europe’s patchwork of national regimes with a standardised set of EU-wide regulations, will be transposed into UK law by June 2007 and come into force by December 2007. So, what will it mean in practice?

How do you structure and manage a joint venture? Bralek's Rule for Success states "Trust only those who stand to lose as much as you do when things go wrong".

It has long been said that copyright protects the expression of an idea, rather than the idea itself. We have seen this in practice in two recent Court of Appeal cases which have considered whether copyright was infringed where the underlying theme or idea of a piece of work had, allegedly, been copied. Much has been made of these cases in the news, but what did they decide and have they changed the law?

As we explored in July 2008’s issue of SmartLaw, the ability of one party to use standard limitation of liability provisions to avoid liability for a breach has always been a tricky aspect of contract law.

An outsourcing arrangement usually involves the transfer by a business to a third party of function, process or service of the business.

On 15 October 2009 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) launched two separate studies: one on online targeting of advertising and pricing and another on advertising of prices.

It is estimated that £43.8 billion was spent online in the UK in 2008. This was an increase of nearly 45 per cent since 2006. The online retail market is clearly going from strength to strength and according to some reports outstripping high street retail sales.

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) launched new advertising Codes for non-broadcast and broadcast advertising on 16 March 2010.

Competition law affects many areas of business activity, in particular commercial relationships with competitors, suppliers and distributors.