CASES

Court seizes 500 million cubic meters of gas from Ostchem Group

The Pechersk District Court of Kiev has allowed the request of the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine to seize about 500 million cubic meters of natural gas stored in special storage facilities of PJSC Ukrtransgaz and belonging to the Ostchem group of companies. The court also ordered officials of Ukrtransgaz to store the said gas and to prohibit any disposal of it, including sale and assignment. The Main Investigation Department is carrying out the pre-trial investigation of gross embezzlement and abuse by officials of Gas of Ukraine, which is part of Naftogaz Ukraine. The Interior Ministry believes that the country lost UAH 5.7 billion because of criminal actions by officials.

Ericsson sues Apple

The Ericsson Company filed lawsuits against Apple in courts of three countries claiming payments for licensed technologies. The Swedish telecommunication equipment manufacturer says that Apple continues to use its patented technology even though it has no right to do so. Ericsson says that they have offered arbitration negotiations. However, the offer expired. The claims were filed in Great Britain, Germany and the Netherlands. The dispute concerns the technology of Ericsson designed for mobile networks and second and fourth generations mobile phones.

It is believed that the patents in dispute relate to phone applications, transferring video to mobile devices, and chip design. The Swedish company owns more than 35,000 patents covering mobile technologies. In February the company filed a lawsuit against Apple in the US in response to the American company’s lawsuit on patented technologies.

In 2014 Samsung paid Ericsson USD 650 million to stop a dispute on patented technologies.

If the courts are supportive of Ericsson, the latter may receive up to USD 725 million annually.

Georgia is obliged to pay compensation to beaten demonstrators

The European Court of Human Rights has ordered the Georgian government to pay compensation ranging from EUR 2,000  to EUR 4,000  to the participants of the rally against homophobia, which was held in 2012 in Tbilisi. The ECHR found actions of the Georgian authorities insufficient as the latter allowed violence against  demonstrators. The complaint was filed with the European Court of Human Rights by the NGO Identity and its 13 members. The plaintiffs accused the Georgian authorities of a violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman treatment) in relation to Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as well as articles on the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. The ECHR found violations existed of the mentioned articles and it came to the conclusion that the Georgian authorities narrowed the scope of the investigation and only opened two separate criminal cases based on the fact of physical injuries to two of the petitioners.

Vasil Kisil & Partners represented Multi Veste Ukraine 1

Vasil Kisil & Partners represented the interests of Multi Veste Ukraine 1, a subsidiary of Multi Corporation, a leading owner, manager and (re)developer of shopping centers in Europe and Turkey, in a dispute with the prosecutor on declaring invalid sale-purchase agreements regarding a land plot and declaring invalid state acts on ownership of that land plot. The dispute was about declaring invalid agreements on the purchase-sale of a land plot, which (before sale) was communal property, in connection with declaring legally invalid the decision adopted by the local council on the sale of the land plot. The courts of first, appeal and cassation instances agreed with the legal position of Multi Veste Ukraine 1. The Local Commercial Court dismissed the prosecutor’s claim in full.  The Higher Commercial Court of Ukraine agreed with the conclusions of the Local Commercial Court and the Appellate Court. The interests of Multi Veste Ukraine 1 were represented by attorneys — Oleg Kachmar, counsellor, and Yuriy Kolos, leading lawyer, under the leadership of managing partner Andriy Stelmashchuk.

LCF advised SE Progress

LCF has represented the interests of SE Progress in dispute with SE Antonov regarding recovery of alleged indebtedness upon performance of commission agreement. Ukrainian courts have rejected recovery from SE Progress of the commission agent’s expenditures. The courts have confirmed the lawfulness of actions of LCF’s client upon execution and performance of a contract on supply of aircrafts. The team has included Elena Volyanskaya and Denis Sperov under the supervision of Anna Ogrenchuk, managing partner.