Your commercial news round-up: interest rates, X in Brazil, carbon emissions, Pokémon

Reading time: four minutes

As usual it’s been a busy week in the commercial world – from interest rate updates in the UK and across the pond in the US, to X in Brazil and a lawsuit filed against the game dubbed as ‘Pokémon with guns’. As we head into the autumn term, this is your time to read our round-up, reflect on the commercial and legal impact of the stories and go off and do your own research on anything that you find particularly interesting. Enjoy!

• The Bank of England is expected to hold interest rates at 5% after it was announced that inflation in the UK remained at 2.2% last month. While this figure is slightly above the bank's 2% target, Governor Andrew Bailey has cautioned against expecting a sharp decline in rates in the coming months. Economists and investors predict that rates will remain unchanged this month, with a potential cut in November instead. The cost of borrowing remains high despite the rate cut last month, posing challenges for homeowners on fixed-rate mortgages when their deals expire in the coming years.
  
  Meanwhile, the US central bank has made its first interest rate cut in over four years, reducing the target for its key lending rate by 0.5 percentage points to the range of 4.75-5%. The move comes after cuts by central banks in Europe, the UK and Canada, and aims to prevent high borrowing costs from harming the US economy. While the US will be most affected by the change, its impact on mortgages and credit card and saving rates will also be felt globally.
   
• Social platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has become accessible to users in Brazil again after an update to its communications network circumvented a block ordered by the country’s supreme court. According to Abrint, the Brazilian Association of Internet and Telecommunications Providers, the update used cloud services provided by security firm Cloudflare, enabling some Brazilian users to access the social media platform outside of the country without the need for a virtual private network. Following a prolonged dispute between X owner Elon Musk and Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes, the supreme court last month ordered Brazil’s mobile and internet service providers to block the platform. Basilio Perez, an Abrint board member, said the technical change and the widespread use of Cloudflare would make it difficult to block X a second time as it could potentially disrupt government agencies and financial services providers. This update also follows the White House’s criticism of Brazil's embargo, stating that people should have access to social media as “a form of freedom of speech”.
   
• A report by food campaign Bite Back claims that the 10 largest food and drink companies in the UK aren’t doing enough to address climate change and are responsible for "staggering" amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. The report states that these companies produce more carbon emissions than the aviation industry, with a total footprint of 477 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions in 2022. This exceeds the total emissions produced by the UK from all activities as a whole that year.
  
  The investigation also found that three of the companies increased their emissions in 2022 and seven are on track to miss their emissions targets. The chief executive of Bite Back, James Toop, said these “truly alarming” figures reveal that global food companies aren’t following their responsibility to help the UK reach its net-zero target by 2050. Toop added that businesses “must prioritise both the health of people and the planet, and start delivering on their environmental commitments immediately”. Bite Back recommends measures to cut UK dietary emissions, including increased consumption of fruits and vegetables and reduced meat consumption.
   
• Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have filed a lawsuit against the developer of the popular game Palworld, alleging patent infringement. The game, which gained attention for being dubbed ‘Pokémon with guns’, has amassed over 25 million players since its release in January. Similarly to Pokémon, Palworld revolves around collecting creatures with unique abilities. In a statement, Nintendo and its partner The Pokémon Company claimed that Palworld "infringes multiple patent rights" and they’re seeking an injunction and compensation for damages. The lawsuit comes after The Pokémon Company announced in January that it would investigate claims of copyright infringement after fans noticed similarities between Palworld and Pokémon games. The developer of Palworld, Pocketpair Inc, hasn’t yet responded to the lawsuit.

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