Introduction
Law prevails in society
for executions of tasks in a suitable manner so that no trouble occurs due to
any hindrance. In order to live in society, it is important to abide by law.
Every person, as well as business houses, needs to follow agreements of law
properly. This will lead to successful completion of tasks.
Task 1
1.1 Analysing and advising Ben on legal rules of implied
terms on goods sale
According to the Consumer Rights Act, 2015, (chapter 2, clause 2)
every goods that are purchased must be of a satisfactory standards when it
relates to the description given in the package, the statement of the seller,
the sample provided for testing and when it continues to work for a
considerable period of time (Eldridge, 2016, p.69). The quality of the
good must be in a condition such that it fits the purpose that it is claimed to
provide; it must be safe with no minor defects and durable (clause 3). In case
of Ben, Clause 2 was violated, as the car did not fit the description in the
first place. The car had two owners when it clearly stated in the advertisement
that it had one owner. Ben did go for testing but it did not fit the purpose
that it was deemed to provide. As per section 15A, in such situation, he can
return or claim for refund or replacement of the product because a breach of
contract has been made by the seller and he is totally liable for compensating
(Levine, 2016, p.3)
1.2 Analysing and advising Ben on statutory provisions on
property transfer as well as possession
According to Jennings et al. (2016, p.870), the Sale of Goods Act
1979 (section 14), states that in a contract for sale of goods, a seller agrees
to transfer the desired product to the consumer in return for a certain amount
of money and such contract where the property is transferred from the seller to
the buyer, it is called the contract of sale. Where there is a contract, no
property can be transferred unless the product is confirmed. Ben went for a test
drive, without much considering on its durability, given the fact that it was a
second-hand car. He straightaway agreed to purchase the car and wrongfully
signed a contract that bore no responsibility for the safety and durability of
the product. The property, under the Sales Contract, must be transferred to the
required place and time as has been decided by both sides. Under section 12,
goods must be free from any charge that is not disclosed until the time the
property is passed and the consumer must enjoy the quiet possession of the
goods unless it is disturbed by the seller who must receive the charge. Ben
before checking on the criteria and getting the possession of the car paid a
non-refundable amount, which was indeed a risky business. In case of an
unconditional contract, the property passes to the buyer when the contract is
made. In case some changes have to be made on a product to deliver it later,
such changes must be implemented before it is passed. Apart from servicing and
cleaning, there was no proper check of the car parts by the seller, before
delivering it to Ben. Goods must be weighed and measured before it is
delivered. When goods are sold on an approval basis, the ownership is
transferred only when the buyer gives his consent to it (Huskey,
2016, p.379)
As stated by Garfield (2016, p.140), the seller, by terms
of the contract, has the right to reserve the disposal of the goods and can
stop the transfer, unless certain conditions are fulfilled. Unless agreed upon,
the goods remain at the seller’s risk till it is transferred to the buyer,
after which it becomes his responsibility. Where the delivery is delayed, the
person at fault must bear the responsibility. A buyer cannot acquire ownership
from someone who does not have the authority to sell. A buyer who buys under
such conditions must return it to the original seller and claim a breach of
contract against the false ownership.
1.3 Evaluating statutory provision on buyers and sellers
remedies upon contracts of goods
In case the seller refuses to deliver a product, the buyer can
take an action against him. If at any time, the product does not match with the
provisions of the contract, namely the product description, quality, safety and
durability, the consumer has the right to take an action, or reject, ask for
repair or replacement, or refund of money. Buyers must be given time to examine
the product and in case a fault has been discovered at the time of buying; he
can reject immediately and ask for a refund (Voiculescu,
2017, p.230). Ben took a test drive but later the car failed to perform as
was desired, so possibility might exist that it was not the same car. This was
clearly a breach of contract and a fraudulent step on the part of the seller.
Ben rightfully asked for a refund which the seller was liable to pay. If such
is the case he could ask for the replacement or the repairing of the car.
Customers have approach right to the seller regarding any product for a span of
six years from the date of its purchase, during which the seller must inform
the buyer about the lasting time and the safety factors of the product. Ben
decides to return the car after the fifth day of the problem, and he is liable
to get the refund to which he has been denied.
As for the seller, he can rightfully possess any good until the
required price has been paid or where the buyer is not of sound mind. In cases
where the buyer is insolvent and has acquired the product, the seller who has
sold the product can rightfully claim the possession of the good and stop its
movement halfway, and the buyer must re-deliver the good according to the
direction of the seller. For perishable product, if the seller wishes to sell
the product to the customer, but the customer postpones his buying plan, the
seller has the right to re-sale it to any other customer and recover the damage
cost from the original buyer. Where the seller has already transferred the
product to the buyer but he refuses to pay, he can take an action against him (McCorquodale
et al. 2016, p.888).
1.4 Analysing on product liability legal rules and statutory
provisions of faulty goods
As per Eldridge
(2016, p.70), in case of any faulty product or its damaged part, that is likely
to cause death or injury, the customer is liable to ask for replacement,
rejection, refund or compensation. In case where there is no option for
replacement or repair, the alternative remedy can be the full or partial
reduction. Ben must return his faulty car and ask for a full or partial
refund, replacement or return of the product. If the fault appears within the
six months of its purchase, it can be assumed that the product was already
faulty. Ben realised within five days of his purchase, so it can be assumed
that either the product was already damaged or it was exchanged for something
worse.
Task 2
2.1 Differentiating several types of credit agreements
Numerous agreements can be formed, which can be used by Ben for
obtaining a new car. This has been clearly mentioned in Consumer Credit Act of
1974. O'Shea (2017, p.550) mentioned
that Consumer Credit Act of 1974 states several laws regarding restriction in
use of credit cards and no restriction in use of credit cards. In case of Ben,
limited credit has been used by him to car dealer. However, credit provided to
creditor can be used by him easily whenever he wants. This might contradict
with terms and conditions of agreements.
Usage of unrestricted credits: Section 11(1) of this
Act states some credit are not defined by any kind of agreement. Such credits
are limited in nature and debtors cannot use it whenever he wants.
Investor-borrower and supplier agreements: Such agreements are
prepared by investors where he has done some extra arrangements between him and
supplier. Borrower has to follow words of investors in this case accordingly.
In section 12 of this Act, this agreement has been clearly stated.
Agreements between investor and debtors: Prevailing arrangement
is not done between supplier and investors. Debtors have knowledge regarding
credits that is used by them for any transaction with creditors.
According to Haapio and Barton (2017, p.372), consumer
credit Acts are formed between debtor party and investor party, where any flaw
regarding processes of business exists. Terms and conditions in agreements need
to be very clear so that no issues occur while trading. Ben can deal with car
owners by making suitable agreements for his benefits.
2.2 Analysing legal rules on termination rights as well as default notices for Ben
Credit agreement can be
terminated by Ben easily and Consumer Protection Act in year 1974 provides such
rights to borrowers. Thompson (2017, p.65) commented that Consumer Protection Act states
customer can abort agreements before signing any such agreements. In addition
to this, if sign has been done, users can end such agreements easily within
tenure of 14 days. However, proper notice is required to be given to
moneylenders when plan of termination has been done by customer. Not only this,
lender need to send default notice regarding termination of agreements. Such
notice is required to comprise information sheets of FCA, which are available
in sites of FCA. Page and
Tarp (2017, p.663) informed that default notice help customer to
understand what steps are required to be taken in aborting such agreements.
Along with that, Ben
will come know about results that can take place if default notice is taken
into consideration. If money lender wants then they can charge remuneration
from debtors. Ben had to follow words of lenders if proper decision is provided
to them. However, if lender mentions any wrong in notice, Ben can charge
penalty against such lender. That is why credit agreements need to be clearly
followed by both Ben and his money lender. In case of Morrison v Coast Finance
Ltd., Morrison borrowed money from Coast Finance Ltd. However, terms and
conditions, in this case, were clearly followed but repayment lead to trouble
for Morrison. When she filed a case, court could not find any relationship
between both parties and it dismissed such case. That is why Ben needs to
understand these facts properly so that further he need not get into trouble.
2.3 Examining general characteristics of Agency and distinguishing between different types of agents
According to Goldmann (2017, p.105), agency works to meet requirements of other
individuals so that other person can easily conduct their work smoothly with
help of agency. Agencies are formed in two separate ways namely, agency
initiated from agreements and agencies formed with assistance of law.
Agency formed from agreements: Maximum agencies are
created by signing contracts. In this case, different terms, capacity of
contracts and proper documentation are present for conducting work in a
suitable manner.
Agency formation because of law: Such agencies are formed
under implied terms of law. When valid agreements are not present between
parties, courts seeks help from implied agencies (Shackelford et
al. 2017, p.116). Sometimes, there are apparent agencies also that provide
assistance to work of different authorities. Parties that are not linked up
with the help of a contract, ruling authorities act as an agency. Such agencies
are known as transparent agency. Act of humanity are done by such agencies so
that peace can prevail in society.
There are lots of agents that are present for solving issues of
parties, who are bonded in a contract. Servant, general agent, sub agent and
agency related to their own interest are agents that work on behalf of other
people.
Sub agent: Such agents work under main agent and they might not be recognised
by law properly.
Servant: Servant is some agent, who has been employed by their owner to
conduct acts on behalf of owner (McCormack, 2017, p.170).
General Agent: This agent has to transact in large numbers and has huge
responsibility of acting on behalf of another person.
Agency related to their
interest: This agent is associated directly with acts and compensation of
such agents is dependent upon their link with acts.
2.4 Evaluating rights and duties of an agent for assisting Ben to understand his position
Zhang (2017, p.61) informed that agents have to
perform huge range of duties so that they do not have to answer to law. Duties
of agent are duty related to care as well as skill, duty of their loyalty and
obedience duty. Obedient duty states that agent needs to follow legal
instruction of person obediently on behalf of whom, agent is performing their
act. Skills and care in place of duty need to be followed when it is assigned
to them. Agent needs to be loyal in performing their duty so that another
person do not raise a complaint against them. Besides, such agent need not put
their own interest in acts thereby, raising no agitation against them. Storey and Salaman (2017, p.650) explained
that remuneration, third party and lien are considered as right of an agent.
Ben needs to understand these rights properly before becoming a car agent. He
needs to get suitable wages for better execution of work and he can use goods
of debtors if they do not pay their debts in time. When third parties get
involved in a case, agent might come out from agreement and other person and
third party can take actions against each other.
Task 3
3.1 Outlining and explaining monopolies as well as anti-competitive practice legislation in UK
Several laws have been
set by government of UK for maintaining fair monopoly and restrict practice of
anti-competition. Laws like Competition Act of 1998 and Enterprise and
Regulatory Act have been formed for better execution of business processes of
UK Aluchna and Idowu (2017, p.996).
Competition Act states that illegal ways cannot be used by ventures for
execution of their businesses. There are several prohibitions that need to be
strictly followed while conducting business like no fixed pricing policy to
maintain competition in market and never abuse any other business processes.
For example, in case of Napp Pharmaceutical Holding Limited, it has retained
competition by reducing market share of Napp in hospital and community.
That is why; it is
essential that fair trade practices need to be followed in businesses.
Enterprise and Regulatory Act that was formed in year 2013 states that
competition, as well as intelligence related to market tasks, need to be
performed by Fair Trading Office. This will let business to promote fair
competition in UK market, enhance productivity and skills. Moreover, innovation
and creativity will also be encouraged in commerce. For example, in case of
Asda stores v Gilchrist, claimant got injury by falling from clothes racks
after purchasing that product from Defendents’ stores. Court mentioned that
defendant was unable to provide safety to their customer and is thus answerable
to law. Similarly, Enterprise and Regulatory Act states that safety needs to be
assured to people for better operation in business or else strict action can be
taken against such deeds.
3.2 Explaining role of competition commission in context of monopolies
Fair Trading Office: This body looks after whether business houses
conducts any unfair means of trading or not (Schwartz, 2017, p.236). Responsibilities of
such authority are promoting structure of market
whenever competition increases and restrict business practices for better
operation in business. There is another is another body named as commission of
competition that looks after whether merger is proving beneficial for business
or not. When they found proper practices of trade and commerce are followed,
they permit mergers to be implemented in business and sometimes, modifications
are made when required. This body supervises work practices correctly so that
merger is properly implemented in every business sector or not.
Competition and Market Authority: This authority regulates
competition by merging roles of both fair trading and commission for
competition. This body applies different rules upon mergers in order to
maintain proper business processes. This authority has set a policy upon merger
when a business house incurs loss because of competition loss due to merger.
Unilateral effects, vertical effects and co-ordinate can lead to reduce
competition in market with help of merger.
If any organisation is
found to breach rules and regulations of this authority then such sectors have
to suffer from severe penalty. It provides full support to companies for using
merger in gaining competitive advantages but if any wrong doings are undertaken,
and then it may leave a deep impact on business practices.
3.3 Defining dominant positions in common market of EU
Article 82 of European
Union treaty mentions that any fault that occurs when business ventures in
dominant positions in common market can be prohibited if it influences European
Union directly. In order to apply this
article in business units, four essential elements need to be considered. This
includes that undertakings need to be in a supreme position, position needs to
comply with common market and there needs to be delinquency of such position.
Along with that, delinquency might affect inter-state trade of that business
venture. For example, EU has aborted merger that has occurred between London
Stock Exchange and Deutsche Borse. Autorite de la concurrence has been charged
fine of amount 100 million for abusing dominant position in European market. Zellweger (2017, p.1045) proposed
that European Union supervises every aspect of commission and if it finds any
misconduct, it immediately imposes change upon such commission. According to
European Union, every business enterprise needs to attend joint meeting that is
arranged by this union. This will help in maintaining proper business practices
in EU market. In case of Apple Rus Ltd, this company needs to bring up a
service centre. However, this company has not done it in time and investigation
against this centre was done where it has to undergo several penalties. EU can
charge fine up to 10% of global turnover of any business venture if it finds
any breach of contract (Barrera, 2017, p.170). This shows that EU has strong hold over common market of UK.
3.4 Considering instances when EU law will make exemptions for anti-competitive practices
Competition
commission makes some changes in agreements that are been made according to
article 81(3) if Treaty of Rome (Simonova and Rudenko,
2017, p.615). If it is found that some agreements are not able to make
suitable profits, then block exemption can be applied. This is limited to
particular business sectors. However, EU has power of providing exemptions and
then notify for clearance. Moreover, proper investigations need to be done
according to this treaty. There are two important conditions of individual
exemptions and they are positive conditions as well as negative conditions. Han (2017, p.30) stated that positive conditions assists in
contributing greatly in production as well as distribution of goods. As a
result, fair means of trade is present and customers are also not been cheated
at any cost.
Negative
conditions mentions that limitations will be imposed upon firms regarding
production and distribution. Block exemptions covers up special types of
agreements that are being made between two parties. Agreements are related to
distribution and licensing of businesses. This commission provides freedom upon
insurance as well as transportation part. For example, Cathode ray tubes were
used by companies like LG and Samsung for stopping anti-competitive practices.
This use is strictly prohibited under EU that is why; these companies had to
pay penalty of more than 1.5 billion Euros. It is significant that laws need to
be followed properly if business is to be conducted under EU.
Task 4
4.1 Identifying and explaining different forms of intellectual property rights
Han and Nelen (2017, p.150) explained
that Intellectual property is of different forms like patents, designs,
trademarks and copyrights. Patents help in safeguarding new inventions and
features as well as processes. This will help in gaining profit from several
inventions that are done for gaining success in business. UK Intellectual
Property Office has some criteria like new invention and requirement of
inventive steps that needs to be followed for protecting intellectual
properties. Designs help in protecting appearance of products so that features
of products might remain unchanged (Ng et al. 2017,
p.120). Trademarks help in differentiating a particular product from
one company to another. It is required that trademarks need to be registered in
office of intellectual property.
This will help in
recognising better quality products. Registration is essential because
registration has a validity of ten years for any product. Copyright helps in
protecting literary works so that ideas of work can be safeguarded properly.
Copyright Designs and patents Act in year 1988 has been formed for safeguarding
ideas of work suitably. In case of Godfrey v Lees, claimant confirmed that he
or she was the one, who really contributed to creation of work. However,
claimant did not get any recognition regarding his work and thus, he had to
stop his license regarding music. There are several cases where copywriting has
been strictly been prohibited and court has taken severe action against them.
Therefore, it is important to understand intellectual property significance and
its terms accurately.
4.2 Outlining principles relating to protections of interventions
As per deLisle (2017, p.70), patents
are important part of intellectual property because it helps in using extra
benefits in scenario of business. Rights of patents comprise of legal steps can
be taken towards people, who are manufacturing, selling and importing patents
without prior permission of dealer. Patents help in selling inventions as well
as rights related to intellectual property. License of invention can be
provided to anyone else and discussion regarding invention with others can be
done. This will help in focusing business mainly into invention. Customers get
huge profits from patents because such patents are published after coverage of
tenure of 18 months. Infringement of patent means importing as well as selling
such products or processes without taking any permission from its owner.
Owner can take accurate
actions and ask for damages that have been caused due to infringement. Patent
becomes invalid and owner can easily raise questions regarding patent
infringement validity. These can be considered as a defense to infringement of
patents. In case of Hotchkiss v Greenwood, defendant was held to be responsible
for invalidating patent. This led court of law to take proper steps against
defendants. In case of Atlantic Works v Brady, court has invalidated patents
thereby providing judgments in favour of claimant. Infringement has led law to
take proper measures to save businesses from any ill doings of others. It has
assisted in taking proper action against person, who is being exploited at
every step.
4.3 Describing principles of copyright protection and rules that prevents their infringement
Sulkowski (2017, p.160) described
that Owner of copyright consists of both economic as well as moral rights.
Moral rights aids in recognising owner and economic rights provides right to
work, right to copy work, right for distribution of work and adapt to situation.
Infringement of copyright means copying any work without seeking permission
from owner. If copyrighting occurs, then owner of copyright will have to
provide answer for damages and stop copying, displaying as well as broadcasting
of such tasks. Profits and benefits regarding such works need to be provided to
owner of copyright. These rules of UK law will help in preventing infringement
of copyright. In case of Stars wars v Battlestar Galactica, Stars Wars
copyrighted from Battlestar Galactica and attained huge success. This company
had stolen ideas from other companies and strict actions were required to be
taken. As a result, this company has paid an amount of approx. twenty thousand
dollars to another company. Another example of such infringement occurred in
case of Apple v Microsoft. Apple has started war regarding use of Graphic User
Interface with Microsoft and finally, it filed a case against such company.
Decisions were taken in favour of Microsoft because this organisation did not
copyright any work of Apple. This shows that copyrighting needs to be done in a
valid manner so that severe penalty needs to be faced in long run of business.
That is why; ideas can be improved but can never be copyrighted.
4.4 Comparing as well as contrasting protection of trademarks with examples
In UK, companies are
provided with business name and also with protection that is provided to its
trade mark (O'Reagan,
2017, p.122). For getting registration of company, house of such ventures are
responsible for providing registration. If an enterprise contains name of
business, then it is not necessary that it will contain proper trademark.
Business name, as well as venture name, might not similar. This is main
difference in business sectors of UK. In UK, name of entity is never accepted
as a trademark because there is no distinctiveness in such name. It might be
registered as trademark from initial stage only and also shows its geographical
origin of products. Company name can never be considered as trademark because
it might be similar to name of another company. It is illegal according to law
of UK.
Moreover, it shows a
proper connectivity with administration of UK. For example, Case of Barclays
Capital Inc. v Theflyonthewall.com shows that court of law found that there was
fault in internet subscription regarding stock services. As a result, this
company had to answer to law thereby, leading to answer to law. Court has
provided judgment based on majority opinion. This shows that trademark is very
important in business of UK. Business name can be unique and can differ from
trademark in large extent. Trademark has to be registered for proper conduction
of business in a proper manner. This will help in maintaining business
operation in accurate process.
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