Talking Fox Legal

A client came to us recently with a design that's more common than most hardware businesses admit to: a physical product, software embedded in it that a third party built, and a growing worry that if the software fails, the claim lands on whoever's name is on the box, rather than the supplier who wrote the code. Their proposed fix was a disclaimer in the software licence: something along the lines of "we are not the developer of this software and accept no liability arising f

The FCA has published its consultation on the scope and proportionality of the Consumer Duty. Why this consultation exists When the Consumer Duty came into force in 2023, it was framed simply enough: firms must act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers, tested against four specific outcomes — product and service design, fair value, consumer understanding, and consumer support. But the scope of "affecting outcomes for retail customers" turned out to be extraordinarily

A question came up recently with a SaaS client that's worth setting out properly, because the same pattern shows up from time to time in tech and payments deals. The client licenses their core product to business customers. For one particular customer, the platform had been adapted: some workflow tweaks, a different data model for that customer's sector, and a co-branded front end. Reasonable enough commercially. The trouble started when the customer's lawyers proposed that t

Most businesses that collect payments have heard of PCI-DSS. Fewer have thought carefully about what it doesn't cover — and why that gap matters. The ICO's recent £963,900 fine against South Staffordshire Water is a useful prompt. The penalty notice records that the personal data exfiltrated and published on the dark web included bank account numbers and sort codes for hundreds of thousands of customers. It also records, almost in passing, that payment card data was held outs

With the explosion of AI, many businesses are launching AI-native businesses, or building out their current offering with AI functionality. AI tools, particularly the more autonomous "agentic" kind that don't just generate content but actually do things (process requests, make recommendations, trigger workflows, communicate with end users), have moved from experimental add-ons to genuine product features, often faster than contracts, governance, and positioning have caught up

And what helps achieve the best outcomes It is natural for each party to put forward the best position for themselves in any contract negotiation. If your client is bigger, more established, or better funded than you are, it is very likely they will push for a contractual and liability position that heavily favours them — even if that seems unfair or unreasonable to you as the vendor. If the client is a large, established institution, they will often have entrenched legal pos

There's a new data protection obligation coming into force in ten days, and a surprising number of organisations aren't ready for it. From 19 June 2026, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA) introduces a statutory right for individuals to complain directly to controllers about alleged infringements of their rights under UK GDPR. That's you, if you process personal data as a controller — which includes the vast majority of UK businesses. This post walks through exactly wha

Downloadable Excel document negotiation tracker

Exploring legaltech and tools for budget-constrained in-house lawyers.

The ICO has launched an easy-to-use tool to help small organisations and sole traders create a bespoke privacy notice

Practical tips for getting ready for Dora - #operations #resilience #policies #procedures

A guide for early stage businesses on how legal resources can be efficiently deployed. How to set up a legal function.