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On Friday it was reported that the US FTC has ruled against a firm whose employees, posing as ordinary consumers, posted favourable reviews of its own clients’ iPhone applications. This type of marketing activity is known as “astroturfing.” The firm must now remove all the reviews. In the UK, astroturfing is illegal as it is “blacklisted” by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. If degrading reviews of competitors’ products are also posted, this could breach the Comparative Advertising Directive, and constitute malicious falsehood, for which damages could be claimed.
The precise extent of astroturfing online is unknown – though there are certain ways to detect if a review is genuine or fake. But in a world where the casual consumer relies heavily on reviews and averaged star-ratings (be it on Amazon, TripAdvisor or iTunes), astroturfing can clearly impact on sales if left unchecked.
From 6 April 2022, right to work checks on all migrant or settled prospective employees must be online and checks on British or Irish nationals will be manual (free) or digital (charged for).
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In Nissan v Passi, the High Court recently considered the issue of an employee retaining confidential documents belonging to his former employer in the context of the employer’s application for an injunction seeking the return of such documents from the employee.
A recent decision by the Supreme Court in Shanks v Unilever PLC has supported the right for employees to receive compensation for patented inventions if the invention is of ‘outstanding benefit’.
The Hiscox Cyber Readiness report, a review of 3300 organisations, will be a stark warning for CEO’s of SME’s in the UK and in Europe.
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