Archive for the ‘Property Law’ Category

UK Property Law From a Foreign Perspective

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

UK property laws are constantly changing and particularly in the last few years a number of additional legislation has been added due to the increasing number of immigrants to the country, and international companies interested in real estate and industrial properties. To protect the rights of native UK citizens the government has raised certain restrictions regarding non-UK residents buying property in the region. Moreover, for industrial units trying to buy property in the country special economic zones and special tax regulations have been formulated to protect the rights of the native citizen.

UK Property law is divided into three different systems – namely the Scotland, England & Wales and Northern Ireland systems. Every piece of land or building must be registered with the land authorities and every purchase requires a fixed registered fee to be paid. The registration fee is different for domestic and commercial property. Not much free land is available in the country and real estate property dealers purchase most of it. The Land Registration Act 2002 must be followed while registering a property.

As far as the law of personal property is concerned, it is different from the law of real estate property. Commonholdis the term used to describe residential buildings, which would have been leased in the past. Freeholdownership comes under the ideal conditions and with freehold ownership the owner is free to do whatever he wants to do with his property. Freehold ownership is flexible and allows the users to rent, lease or sell their property as they wish. Recently a new housing law had been approved by the government. Known as the Housing Act 2004 it has modified regulations for commercial, residential and individual property.

Intellectual Property Laws

Sunday, May 16th, 2010

“Intellectual property” is a term with which many people are familiar, but are often unaware of the full meaning. In short, an intellectual property is a “creation of the mind” over which an individual or corporation holds a legal monopoly. “Intellectual property” is also used to refer to the field of law that handles the legal implications and protections of these monopolies. The main goal of these laws is to uphold the exclusive rights the creator of an intellectual property holds over their works, which are much more far reaching than many people realize.

A trademark is an image, symbol, phrase, or other distinctive mark used to represent a person, group, or brand. Trademarks exist as both registered and unregistered legal entities, though enforcement of infringement laws differ depending on the status of the mark in question. “Service mark” is a term used to distinguish a trademark that relates to services instead of products. Infringement cases are subject to limit by the “fair use” defense, which allow the use of others’ trademarks if they are being used to accurately describe a product or to identify the mark’s owner.

Patents are designed to protect an inventor’s rights to their work for a certain amount of time in exchange for their disclosure of that invention to the public. The terms of the patent give the inventor the right to keep other people or individuals from profiting off of their work for the length of the patent. Trade secrets are formulas, processes, instruments, or other information that give one business an advantage over their competition. These secrets can be protected through non-compete and non-disclosure contracts with employees, but once they are discovered, other parties are not prevented from using the information. If you are facing charges for violating intellectual property laws, you may want to seek the advice of an experienced legal counselor. The details of such cases can be very complicated, and you deserve to have your rights fully protected.