436 Chapter 16Credit transactions and intellectual property rights
Essential points
n A regulated agreement is a consumer credit agreement, or consumer hire agreement,
other than an exempt agreement.
n The definition of a regulated agreement is significant because most of the provisions
of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 apply only to regulated agreements.
n Section 56 CCA 1974 can make a supplier of goods the agent of the creditor in some
circumstances.
n Section 75 CCA 1974 makes a creditor liable for a misrepresentation or breach of
contract made by a supplier in some circumstances.
n Copyright is concerned with protecting the expression of ideas, rather than with
protecting ideas themselves.
n An invention can only be patented if it is new, involves an inventive step and is
capable of industrial application.
n A trade mark is a sign capable of being represented graphically which is capable of
distinguishing the goods or services of one business from those of another.Practice questions
1 In the transactions described below, company A has agreed to supply machinery to com-
pany B. The six transactions described provide one example of each of the following types
of credit: a loan; hire-purchase; a conditional sale; a contract of hire; a credit sale; and an
overdraft. Match the transactions to the various types of credit.
(a) Company B takes possession of the machinery, but ownership is not to pass to company
B until it has paid all 36 instalments of the price. At the outset, company B commits itself
to making all 36 payments.
(b) Company B takes possession of the machinery, but ownership is not to pass to company
B until it has paid all 36 instalments of the price. Company B does not commit itself to
making all 36 payments.
(c) Company B has agreed to pay £1,000 a month for the use of the machinery until it has
filled an order. After that, the machinery will be returned to company A.
(d) Company B’s bank has agreed that company B can pay for the machinery by writing a
cheque for £10,000. The company bank balance stands at £2,300.
(e) Company B’s bank has credited the company account with £10,000 so that the mach-
inery can be bought. Company B is to repay this money by paying £560 a month for
two years.
(f ) Company B takes immediate possession of the machinery and gets immediate ownership
of it. The contract of sale says that the price is to be paid by 12 monthly instalments of
£1,000 each.2 Are the following regulated agreements, made last month, within CCA 1974?
(a) A company borrows £12,000 from its bank to buy a new computer system.