Business Law Library & Tracker
Selected Business Law Cases
Short explainers for court decisions that change how UK businesses handle contracts, staff, customers, IP and company duties.
Sources last reviewed 10 Aug 2026
Main law guides
122
Acts, regulations and codes worth reading first
Topics
60
Plain-English clusters
Published case explainers
143
Selected cases with a business lesson
Tracked updates
13
New, amended & reviewed
Plain-English explainers, not legal advice. Use the linked official source for section-level detail, and get advice for your situation.
Get legal helpDr Christopher Day v Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust
The durable lesson for employers is not that public rebuttals are safe, but that they are risky and must be handled with discipline. The EAT said the tribunal was...
Dryrobe Limited v Caesr Group Limited
If you are launching a new brand, do not rely on small spelling changes, punctuation, or a different logo to solve a similarity problem. The court treated D-ROBE as...
easyGroup Limited v Easy Live (Services) Limited & Ors
The practical lesson is not simply ‘avoid famous brands’. It is more specific: test the exact wording you want to use, not just your full company name or logo. In...
easyGroup Limited v easyfundraising Limited & Ors
Read this case as a practical lesson in running two separate trade mark checks. First, if you own registrations, can you prove genuine use of the mark as registered...
Equity & Ors v Talent Systems Europe Limited (trading as Spotlight)
If your business runs a directory, marketplace or subscription platform for freelancers, this case shows that labels alone do not decide your legal status, but your...
Expert Tooling and Automation Limited v Engie Power Limited
If you use a broker, do not stop at a general statement that the broker is paid commission. Ask who pays it, whether it is built into your price, how much it is or...
Great Jackson St Estates Limited v The Council of The City of Manchester
If your project sits on leasehold land, review the lease before major planning, design and funding costs are committed. Check every clause affecting demolition,...
Hopcraft v Close Brothers; Johnson and Wrench v FirstRand
Commission disclosure and customer finance journeys need careful design. Even where broad fiduciary or bribery claims fail, regulated credit fairness can still bite...
Iconix Luxembourg Holdings SARL v Dream Pairs Europe Inc
Brand clearance should consider how signs look in real use, not just side-by-side at design stage. Product shape, angle, context and post-sale visibility can all...
InterDigital, Inc & Ors v Optis Cellular Technology LLC & Ors
If your business signs contracts with sensitive pricing, royalty structures or negotiated rates, this case is a useful guide to how courts may treat that...
Justin Gutmann v Apple Inc & Ors
If your business runs a platform, marketplace or other model that could attract a competition class action, this case is a reminder that funding challenges may not...
Merck KGaA v Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC & Anor
If your business has territorial limits on brand use, treat them as operational rules that need technical and commercial controls behind them. Audit your websites,...
Mex Group Worldwide Limited v Adam Duthie & Anor
For business owners, the durable lesson is not about the underlying cross-border fight. It is about control of confidential information once a relationship with a...
Modernatx, Inc v Pfizer Limited & Ors
The durable lesson is practical. If your business relies on patents, be precise about what your claims cover and keep clear records of the technical problem you...
Mohinder Singh & Ors v David Ingram (in his capacity as the Liquidator of MSD Cash and Carry PLC)
For business owners, directors and insolvency practitioners, the lesson is simple: do not assume that a funding agreement signed part-way through a dispute only...
Morley's (Fast Foods) Limited v Thurairasa Nanthankumar & Ors
For small and growing food businesses, the lesson is simple: do not assume that changing the name alone makes your branding safe. The court looked at the overall...
On Tower UK Limited v British Telecommunications PLC
If your telecoms lease or rooftop site agreement contains a detailed landlord break clause, do not assume the Code will cure a weak notice. Start with the contract....
Optis Cellular Technology LLC & Ors v Apple Retail UK Ltd & Ors
If your products use standardised technology, do not leave SEP licensing until after launch or until litigation is well underway. This case shows that once a...
Phones 4U Limited (in administration) v EE Limited & Ors
The durable lesson is straightforward. A business can lawfully make a tough commercial decision, even one that rivals may also be considering, but it must make that...
Places for People Pension Trustee Limited v Places for People Group Limited & Ors
For ordinary businesses, the durable lesson is less about pensions litigation and more about document control. If your business changes employee benefits, incentive...
Prevayl Innovations Limited v Whoop Inc
If your innovation is mainly about where known hardware sits in a garment or device, do not assume that commercial usefulness equals patent strength. You need...
River Island Holdings Limited, Re
The practical lesson is not that every struggling business can cut leases through court process. It is that directors should act early, build evidence and compare...
Sky UK Limited v The Office of Communications
The durable lesson is about service classification, not a blanket label for every Sky product. The ruling supports Ofcom’s interpretation for the issue in dispute...
Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Limited & Anor v Alex Neill Class Representative Limited
If your business faces a funded competition claim, assume the claimant may still have workable third-party funding even after PACCAR. You can still review the...
Tesco Stores Limited, R (on the application of) v Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council & Anor
If your business is involved in a retail planning application, treat site availability as a live issue until the decision is made. Do not assume a more central site...
Tesla Inc & Anor v InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc & Ors
For ordinary businesses, the durable lesson is about licensing structure, not electric cars. If your product depends on standard-essential patents, the legal route...
Thames Water Utilities Holdings Ltd, Re
If your business is heading towards a cash shortfall, the key lesson is to start restructuring work early and build evidence around the real fallback scenario if no...
Thatchers Cider Company Limited v Aldi Stores Limited
The lesson is not that you can never use common flavour cues, category colours or fruit imagery. The problem is pushing the design so far that it deliberately calls...
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care & Ors v Lundbeck Limited & Ors
For business owners, the lasting lesson is not limited to pharmaceuticals. If your business makes a deal with a competitor that delays entry, restricts selling, or...
Thom Browne Inc & Anor v Adidas AG
The main lesson is to be precise when filing position marks. If your branding depends on a feature appearing on a sleeve, side panel, pocket, shoe upper or similar...
URS Corporation Ltd v BDW Trading Ltd
If your business develops, designs or helps build residential property, do not assume risk ends when the units are sold or when an old six-year limitation position...
Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company v FW Aviation (Holdings) 1 Limited
For ordinary businesses, the durable lesson is simple: if your deal is funded by lenders or secured against key assets, do not treat the supplier or original...
Westfield Park Limited v Harworth Estates Investments Limited
Do not assume a court will treat a practical improvement as the same as the contractual trigger. If the real bargain is "pay more when static caravans are allowed",...
Wise Payments Limited v With Wise Limited & Ors
If you are choosing or changing a brand, do not stop at checking whether another business looks like a direct competitor. Map what your business actually does now,...
Abbey Healthcare (Mill Hill) Ltd v Augusta 2008 LLP
Collateral warranties should not be treated as interchangeable boilerplate. Developers, tenants, funders and contractors should check whether the document gives the...
Alex Not & Ors v Jaguar Land Rover Limited & Ors
For ordinary businesses, the durable lesson is less about diesel vehicles and more about how product complaints can scale. If many customers say the same product...