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Paul Harris's Library

Sheffield United Football Limited v West Ham United Football Club Plc [2008] EWHC 2855 (Comm)

In the latest stage of the ongoing legal battle between Sheffield United and West Ham over the Carlos Tevez affair, Sheffield United have succeeded in their application to the High Court for an interim order restraining West Ham from ...

Bookmakers' Afternoon Greyhound Services Limited v Amalgamated Racing Limited [2008] EWHC 1978 (Ch)

This case involves the intersection of two very British pastimes; horseracing and betting. There are 60 racecourses in Great Britain and since 1986 it had been lawful for live pictures of horseracing to be shown in Licensed Betting ...

A matter of timing: R (on the application of BMW AG) and others v HMRC

The arrangements affected by the result of the BMW case are various, but in each case the cashflow benefit arises in the same way.  Company A makes supplies to Company B. Company A must account for output tax on the ...

Chester City Council & Chester City Transport v Arriva plc, Arriva Cymru Limited & Arriva North-West Limited

The High Court has just considered the application of Chapter II of the Competition Act 1998 in the context of the bus industry and, in particular, in relation to allegations of 'predatory pricing' and 'flooding the market'. In ...

Newcastle United Plc. v. HMRC [2007] EWHC 612 (Ch)

On 23rd February 2007 Mann, J. allowed an appeal by Newcastle United Plc, the owners of Newcastle United Football Club ("Newcastle United").  He remitted the case for a retrial in the Tribunal.  The case concerned the ...

Doping: a Rule of Reason for the Sporting Exception?

With Tour de France winner Floyd Landis and Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin facing possible bans following their recent positive drugs tests, the ECJ's judgment in Meca-Medina provides ...

Doping: a Rule of Reason for the Sporting Exception?

With Tour de France winner Floyd Landis and Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin facing possible bans following their recent positive drugs tests, the ECJ's judgment in Meca-Medina provides ...

High Court Ends 23 Years of Uncertainty over Pet Markets Ban

In a judgment that will be of considerable interest to local authorities and environmental groups, the High Court has clarified the interpretation of the Pet Animals Act 1951 in relation to the selling of animals as pets at markets ...

Kretztechnik ~ How Does a Non-Economic Activity Nevertheless Give Rise to the Right to Deduct

The ECJ judgment in Kretztechnik AG v Finanzami Linz Case C-465/03 [2005] STC 1118 (Kretztechnik), now almost exactly one year on, remains of great importance for two principal reasons: first, it remains the Court's latest word ...

Replica Kit Penalties Varied by the CAT

On 19 May 2005, the Competition Appeals CAT ("CAT") handed down its judgment on penalty in the Umbro Holdings Limited ("Umbro"), Manchester United plc ("MU"), JJB Sports plc ("JJB") and Allsports Limited ("Allsports") appeals.2 The ...

The Replica Football Kit Appeals

On 1 October the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") handed down its long awaited judgment in the Replica Football Kit case.  This is the first appeal against a cartel decision under the Competition Act 1998 ("the 1998 Act"). ...

Abusive sports governing bodies

The WPBSA is professional snooker's world governing body.  Virtually all professional players are members. It also organises/promotes most important tour events and sells the commercial rights. In this case a rival Tour sought ...

Salary Caps

In the sporting world, a salary cap is a global limitation on the amount permitted to be paid to the playing staff of a team, over a given time period.  Salary caps are already well established in many sports at home and abroad. ...

Transfrontier Broadcasting of World Cup Qualifying Games

With extraordinary speed, the House of Lords has recently given judgment in the case of TVDanmark, which concerned the broadcasting of the 5 'away' 2002 World Cup qualification matches ("the matches") of the Danish national ...

Case Law of the ECJ: Deliege and Lehtonen

The mid-April ECJ judgments in Deliège and Lehtonen both had the potential to provide further illumination of the application of EC competition rules to sport. Unfortunately, those opportunities were not ...

The benefits of the team salary cap in English Rugby League

In the sporting world, a salary cap is a global limitation on the amount permitted to be paid to the playing staff of a team, over a given time period.  In the last edition of this Journal I wrote an article about the practical ...

What position do team salary caps play in the game of competitive balance?

In the sporting world, a salary cap is a global limitation on the amount permitted to be paid to the playing staff of a team, over a given time period.  Salary caps are already well established (in both sporting and legal ...

VAT and Competition Law