Business Law Library & Tracker
Licences, Permits & Registrations
Business permissions, professional registration and regulated activities.
Sources last reviewed 28 July 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
11
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 helpMain laws
Charities Act 2011
UKPGA 2011 c 25
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
UKPGA 1988 c 48
Environmental Protection Act 1990
UKPGA 1990 c 43
Financial Services and Markets Act 2000
UKPGA 2000 c 8
Food Safety Act 1990
UKPGA 1990 c 16
Intellectual Property Act 2014
UKPGA 2014 c 18
Licensing Act 2003
UKPGA 2003 c 17
Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2000
UKPGA 2000 c 12
Patents Act 1977
UKPGA 1977 c 37
Payment Services Regulations 2017
SI 2017/752
Registered Designs Act 1949
UKPGA Geo6 12-13-14 c 88
Gambling Act 2005
2005 c. 19
Care Standards Act 2000
2000 c. 14
Electronic Communications Act 2000
2000 c. 7
Private Security Industry Act 2001
2001 c. 12
Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004
2004 c. 11
Legal Services Act 2007
2007 c. 29
Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011
2011 c. 13
The Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015
UnitedKingdomStatutoryInstrument 2015 17
Energy Act 2013
2013 c. 32
Energy Act 2023
2023 c. 52
Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Act 2017
UnitedKingdomPublicGeneralAct 2017 14
The Charitable Incorporated Organisations (Insolvency and Dissolution) Regulations 2012
UnitedKingdomStatutoryInstrument 2012 3013
Cases
Acer Incorporated & Anor v Nokia Technologies Oy
If your products rely on standardised technology, do not treat a licence offer as just a pricing discussion. This case shows that the structure of the offer can be...
Airconco UK Limited v DC Air Condition and Refrigeration Limited
For ordinary businesses, the lesson is simple: do not treat website copy as free to reuse just because it is public and promotional. If you lift wording from a...
Dairy UK Ltd v Oatly AB
If you sell plant-based food or drink in the UK, do not assume a creative slogan, campaign line or trade mark is safe just because it is obviously non-dairy in...
DSM IP Assets BV & Anor v Algal Omega 3 Limited (In Administration) & Anor
For most small businesses, the durable lesson is not about the science. It is about IP diligence. A patent can look commercially important, but its real value...
Easygroup Limited v Easyfeetstore OÜ & Ors
For business owners, the lesson cuts both ways. If you are launching a brand, do proper trade mark checks before going live, especially if your name starts with a...
On Tower UK Limited v AP Wireless II (UK) Limited
If your business hosts telecoms equipment, buys land with telecoms apparatus on it, or takes an assignment of site rights, do not assume only the original...
Saxon Woods Investments Ltd v Costa
A director can disagree strongly with the board, but must use the company's governance process to do it. Honest belief is not a licence to run a private...
THG Plc v Zedra Trust Company (Jersey) Ltd
Do not assume an old shareholder complaint has disappeared, but do not assume it can be brought forever either. This case says the court must look at what the...
Zaha Hadid Limited v The Zaha Hadid Foundation
If your business depends on a founder’s name, designer label, celebrity brand or other licensed trade mark, do not leave duration and exit rights to later argument....
Abbott Diabetes Care Inc v Sinocare Inc & Ors
Do not assume a product’s shape will do the same legal work as a brand name or logo. If customers, clinicians, buyers or distributors mainly identify products by...
Accord Healthcare Limited & Ors v The Regents of the University of California & Anor
If your business is planning to launch around a competitor’s patent, do not assume that a minor technical tweak will be enough to invalidate it. In this case, the...
AJP Homes Limited v Tate Estates (Lambert House) Limited
The main lesson is to treat the transfer as an operating document, not just a title document. A broad right of way may allow more than simple movement from A to B....
Alcatel Lucent SAS v Amazon Digital UK Limited & Ors
Read this as a case about litigation strategy and business continuity, not a final win on licence terms. Amazon improved its position by doing more than saying it...
AstraZeneca AB & Anor v Generics (UK) Limited & Ors
If your business is involved in a patent or similar rights dispute, do not assume an existing injunction will simply continue after an adverse appeal result. The...
Babek International Limited v Iceland Foods Limited & Anor
If your brand uses a stylised logo, emblem or coloured badge, this decision suggests the court will look at the registration in a practical way rather than through...
D.E.L.T.A. Merseyside Limited and another v Uber Britannia Limited
If you run a private hire business outside London and Plymouth, this case gives you more freedom over how bookings are structured, but it does not let you be vague....
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
Artcrafts International SpA v MOU Limited
Read this case as a contract wording and channel-management lesson. It does not create a blanket rule for every exclusive arrangement, because the injunction...
Engineer.AI Global Limited v Appy Pie Ltd & Anor
If your brand leans on a common descriptive word, treat evidence as part of the brand asset. Keep UK-specific sales figures, campaign records, website metrics,...
Morley’s (Fast Foods) Limited v Jeyatharini Sivakumar & Ors
The practical message is clear. If your business has settled a branding dispute, do not treat the approved logo as a flexible starting point for future redesigns....
P Patel v DPD Group UK Limited
The practical point is not that any substitution clause will do. A clause only helps if it is genuine, broad enough to matter, and consistent with how the...
Panasonic Holdings Corporation v Xiaomi Technology UK Limited & Ors
If your business uses standardised technology and is prepared to take a court-determined FRAND licence, say so early, document it clearly and keep that position...
The Financial Conduct Authority v London Property Investments (UK) Limited (t/a LPI Emergency Property Finance) & Ors
For ordinary businesses, the practical lesson is simple: if you operate in the space between distressed homeowners and lenders, do not assume you are just an...
Philipp v Barclays Bank UK PLC
The case matters for payment controls and fraud prevention. Businesses should not assume the bank will catch authorised fraud payments. Internal approval controls,...
Vadim Don Benyatov v Credit Suisse (Securities) Europe Ltd
The practical lesson is about clarity, scope and risk allocation. An employer may owe recognised duties of care and may have to reimburse some expenses or...
Harpur Trust v Brazel
Holiday pay is a payroll legal issue, not just an HR estimate. Employers with variable-hours, term-time or irregular workers should use current statutory rules and...
LUEN FAT METAL AND PLASTIC MANUFACTORY CO LTD v FUNKO UK LTD
For small businesses, the main lesson is to check both sides of the trade mark equation. If you are enforcing a mark, be ready to prove genuine use and show the...
PIXDENE LIMITED v PADDINGTON AND COMPANY LIMITED
If your contract gives you a percentage of sales, royalties or net revenue, check whether the audit clause actually works in practice. This decision shows that a...
Ventures Food Limited v Little Dessert Shop Limited
If your business model involves one entity taking a lease and another occupying the premises, make the documents say clearly what right is being granted and what...
Zoe Evans & Ors. v Anytime Clubs UK Limited & Anor.
If you run a franchise, keep clear records showing who controls local marketing in practice, not just on paper. A general right to protect brand standards is not...
Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v Kout Food Group (Kuwait)
For ordinary businesses, the durable lesson is not really about high-level arbitration theory. It is about contract housekeeping. If you trade with a company in a...
Travel Counsellors Ltd v Trailfinders Ltd
Do not assume a new recruit or franchisee is free to bring over a customer list just because they know the customers personally. If the volume, format or detail of...
The Racing Partnership Ltd & Ors v Sports Information Services Ltd
The durable lesson is about sourcing discipline. If you receive commercially valuable information from a third party, ask where it comes from, what rights sit...
Rock Advertising Ltd v MWB Business Exchange Centres Ltd
If a contract says variations must be in writing, do not rely on a casual call or email chain to change the deal. Sales, account management and finance teams should...