Dealing with the disputes of today and tomorrow

The Commercial Court continues to be at the forefront of developing commercial litigation. At the moment it frequently deals with disputes arising from such subjects as digital commerce and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital Commerce

The Court frequently engages with issues arising from digital commerce, including Smart Contracts and digital assets or currency and transactions involving NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens). The Court has addressed:

• The status of cryptocurrencies in the context of applications for freezing order relief in AA v Persons Unknown [2019] EWHC 3566 (Comm) (external link) and Wang v Darby [2021] EWHC 3054 (Comm) (external link);
• Applications for information from cryptocurrency exchanges in Fetch.ai Ltd v Persons Unknown Category A [2021] EWHC 2254 (Comm) (external link)
• The quantification of damages in Bitcoin trading in Ramona Ang v Reliantco Investments Ltd [2020] EWHC 3242 (Comm) (external link)
• NFTs in Soleymani v Nifty Gateway LLC [2022] EWHC 773 (Comm) (external link)
• In Ebury Partners Belgium SA/NV v. Technical Touch BV and another [2022] EWHC 2927 (Comm) (Jacobs J) the court dealt with notice of terms, and the proper law of incorporation of terms via an online application form in the context of foreign exchange trading.

Test and grouped case (including COVID-19 BII cases)

The Commercial Court seeks to actively manage suitable sets of cases either via a test case or a sub-list of cases where linked cases can be managed together. Input from parties who consider that they have a case suitable for such treatment is welcomed.

Cases can be viewed in detail on the Active Case Management webpage.