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William Aldous

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Nationality
  
British


Name
  
William Aldous

Sir William Aldous (born 1936) is a retired English judge and currently a judge in the Gibraltar Court of Appeal.

Contents

Biography

William Aldous was head of barristers' chambers at 6 Pump Court, Temple from 1980 to 1988. In 1988 he was appointed to the High Court bench and assigned to the Patents Court of the Chancery Division. In January 1993 his judgment reflected a trend towards the freedom to publish. The Home Office had claimed copyright over tapes of serial killer, Dennis Nilsen in the possession of World In Action. Charles Tremayne of Granada Television, described Aldous's decision to allow broadcast as "welcome and surprising".

He was made a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1995 (some sources say 1996 but Who's Who prefers 1995) and appointed a member of the Privy Council in 1995

He retired from the bench in October 2003 and is now an arbitrator in intellectual property arbitrations.

He is a member of the Gibraltar Court of Appeal. In March 2009 he dissented from other Court of Appeal judges, in giving the opinion that the Gibraltar Government's housing allocation policy discriminated against same-sex couples.

Judgments

Judgments of Aldous in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales include:

  • Fujitsu's Application - Patent law confirming the rejection of a patent involving the computerisation of an existing process.
  • British Telecommunications plc v One in a Million Ltd - Intellectual property case in which Aldous identified domain names usurping a trademarked name as "an instrument of fraud"
  • Walton v Independent Living Organisation - UK labour law, regarding the National Minimum Wage Act 1998
  • Dubai Aluminium Co Ltd v Salaam - English vicarious liability case, concerning also breach of trust and dishonest assistance. Aldous's decision was reversed in the House of Lords
  • Silven Properties Ltd v Royal Bank of Scotland plc - English land law case, concerning the behaviour of receivers appointed under mortgages.
  • References

    William Aldous Wikipedia