Didn’t You Read The Small Print?

The British perfumer Jo Malone has said she is “surprised and very sad” after being sued for more than £200,000 in damages for using her name on fragrances she created for the fashion chain Zara. It emerged last month that New York-based multinational Estée Lauder Companies, which owns brands M.A.C, Bobbi Brown, Estée Lauder and Jo Malone London, was taking legal action, claiming the fragrance entrepreneur infringed trademarks.

Malone sold her perfume brand to the US cosmetics group in 1999 in a deal under which she was blocked from using her name for particular commercial reasons, including the marketing of fragrance.

And it appears she didn’t fully understand what she was signing away…

She stepped down as creative director of the Jo Malone brand in 2006 and has since said she regretted selling the rights to her name, calling it the “biggest mistake of my life”.

She certainly realises now, when it’s too late! 

After a non-compete clause ended in 2011, Malone set up the Jo Loves brand. In 2019, the perfume brand launched a collaboration with Zara that included eight scents, which sell for £35.99. The packaging made clear the products were created by Malone and the latest version includes the words: “A creation by Jo Malone CBE, founder of Jo Loves.” Estée Lauder took issue with this wording, and high court documents show the company and Jo Malone Ltd expect to recover more than £200,000 in damages.

It’s hard to see how they could have done any different…but Malone still doesn’t fully understand , or more likely, thinks she won’t be called on her objections.

“My name is Jo Malone. I am the person, the fragrance creator, the entrepreneur, the cancer survivor, the person,” she said. “I never expected to receive a high court claim with my name on it.”

Then you shouldn’t have tried to end-run around the contact’s restrictions! 

She said when Zara approached her seven years ago about working together, “they approached me, they didn’t approach a company, they didn’t approach a brand, they didn’t approach a logo. They approached me, Jo Malone, the person, and asked whether I would start working with them and create beautiful fragrances that everyone could wear in the world.” She added: “I sold a company, I did not sell myself.”

You sold the name, the trademark. Thats the valuable thing. 

“We have gone above and beyond and above and beyond again to make sure everyone understands this has nothing to do with Jo Malone London, the company. This is very much Jo Malone. By using Ms Jo Malone CBE, Jo Malone creative director of Jo Loves, we’ve literally done as much as we possibly can … We’ve trained the staff, everything. 

“Where do I go from here? Who can I be? I can’t stop being a person. Nobody can stop being the character and the person that you are.”

Nobody's asking you to stop being a person, are they? 

You’d Think Working There, They’d Be Better At Any such Cover Up

After all, they have so much data to draw on of how it's done, and even more, how it’s not done and can result in you getting caught, thanks to the people they deal with daily:

The body running courts in England and Wales has been accused of a cover-up, after a leaked report found it took several years to react to an IT bug that caused evidence to go missing, be overwritten or appear lost.

Wait, isn’t that likely to mean justice hasn’t been served? Reader, indeed so… 

Sources within HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) say that as a result, judges in civil, family and tribunal courts will have made rulings on cases when evidence was incomplete.

Shouldn’t that worry those engaged in administering justice? Yes, it should. Yet it doesn’t appear to have done so… 

The internal report, leaked to the BBC, said HMCTS did not know the full extent of the data corruption, including whether or how it had impacted cases, as it had not undertaken a comprehensive investigation. It also found judges and lawyers had not been informed, as HMCTS management decided it would be "more likely to cause more harm than good".

Cause more harm to whom? Well, one has to assume they mean ‘the managers of HMCTS', and not those facing trial!  

HMCTS says its internal investigation found no evidence that "any case outcomes were affected as a result of these technical issues".

Did they actually look for any?  

The Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) Tribunal - which handles benefit appeals - is thought to have been most affected.

Well, we all know who will benefit from this, don’t we Reader? That’s right. Lawyers. 

No Doubt He Ticked A Box, And That’s What Counts These Days…

Judge Timothy Spencer said Heggs, who has autism and ADHD, was “probably too immature to be working as a police officer” as he jailed him for 12 months.

Actually, he probably ticked two separate boxes! 

He said: “It is clear you did not lack enthusiasm and your policing was, at times, of an exemplary standard, but you lacked maturity. 

“You had received extensive training, you knew the importance of data protection and knew you should only share materials for a genuine policing purpose.

“You knew the lines were drawn and the lines were very clear.”

It's not something the police should ever expect to have to teach recruits, is it? 

Judge Spencer accepted that Heggs’s actions were not out of “wickedness”, but said the defendant’s claims that he accessed the material so he could learn from the experience and become a better officer were “far-fetched”. He said Heggs’s actions had “significantly undermined” public trust and confidence in the police.

As if there’s much left to undermine… 

Remember When Universities Were Where The Smart People Went?

A ruling by the higher education regulator for England on freedom of speech breaches at the University of Sussex has sparked anxiety in the sector, as vice-chancellors scramble to review their policies to avoid potential violations. Two weeks after the Office for Students (OfS) handed out a record £585,000 fine, many university leaders are still not clear what it means in practice.

It seems crystal clear to me, but maybe that's because I never went to university? 

One of the few vice-chancellors willing to speak out condemned the OfS ruling as “a lesson in authoritarianism, with threats of more to come”.

No doubt they are from one of the universities featured in David Thompson's roll-call of authoritarian left-wing agenda pushers...  

Prof David Green, University of Worcester vice-chancellor and chief executive, said: “Using coercive powers of the state risks terrifying university leaders into a culture of compliance which is the very opposite of the democratic and free culture for which we should be working.”

The rise of no-platforming and speech codes in universities give the lie to that, Dave... 

Many university leaders have turned to lawyers, in some cases spending tens of thousands of pounds, to review not just transgender and non-binary equality policy, which was at the heart of the Sussex case, but a range of university statements, documents and policies. “I wouldn’t say that they were in a state of panic,” said one lawyer who did not want to be named, “but I think there is genuine anxiety they don’t know what they need to do to get this right.”

What are they paid their huge salaries for? 

University leaders are struggling to find the right balance between freedom of speech duties and a legal requirement to protect students and academics from abuse and harassment, and feel they have not been given enough clarity by the OfS.

You could always start by telling those fragile snowflakes that infest modern universities that stating biological fact isn't 'harassment' or 'abuse' and if they are at university, they shouldn't need protecting from it... 

Maybe Reconsider Your Hiring Practices?

A Belmarsh prison officer who derailed a murder trial by investing a false confession after a killer showered her with money and gifts has been jailed for four years and eight months today.

Gosh, maybe employing female foreigners with glamour shots all over their social media isn't such a good idea after all? 

Bujko, who has a masters degree in criminology, made the false claim at the behest of Campbell’s co-defendant Mohammed Moshaer Ali, 31, bribing her with ‘money, gifts and promises’, the Old Bailey heard.

You never see male prison officers falling for this, I've noticed. 

She claimed she overheard a conversation in the southeast London jail’s healthcare unit between Campbell and another inmate, suggesting he and Antonio Afflick-McLeod, 32, planned to rob Ali of drugs on the day of the killing. An examination of CCTV footage of the unit revealed that Campbell was not there when she claimed to have witnessed the exchange.

It's frightening to think not only are they corrupt, they are stupid too! 

She is likely to be deported back to Poland at the end of her sentence.

Good! I bet they don't take her into their prison service.

It'd Take A Heart Of Stone, Wouldn't It?

A man was shot dead when his friend accidentally opened fire with a submachine gun as they prepared to go on a 'ride-out' attack, a court has heard.

Mohamed Muhyidin, 28, was found in a ditch near Heathrow Airport with a single gunshot wound to the back on the morning of October 31 last year around an hour after he was allegedly killed by Chiragh Amir Chiragh, 39.

Prosecutors say they were about to embark on a 'ride-out' in a Toyota Prius to attack unknown targets when Chiragh shot his friend in the back with an Agram 2002 submachine gun fitted with a silencer.

Ooopsie!  

Oh, hello again!

Chiragh, from Kenton, north-west London, Shakeel, from Barking, east London, and Ahmed, from Hounslow, west London, deny manslaughter, possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and an alternative count of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

From where...?  

That's Not How It's Done, Minister!

Over here in England, our ministers are much smarter. They get their offspring to do it!

The Mounties No Longer Get Their Man...

...because they no longer know what one is:

Oh, Canada...

Isobella Degrace, 27, was last seen on Saturday, June 25, 2022, at 3 a.m., in the Ryerson Avenue and Bathurst Street area.

She is described as 5’10", with a thin build, shaggy blonde hair, and a full goatee. She was last seen wearing a black t-shirt and grey pants. Police are concerned for her safety.

I'm concerned for the sanity of the people who can put this out into the public domain...