Borenius

Attorney at Law Liga Fjodorova will participate in European Patent Forum 2012

2012-05-22T09:06:51Z

Fourth annual European Patent Forum organized by Taylor Wassing will take place in London on May 29^th, the event gathers together the best patent lawyers in Europe. Last year 27 country representatives participated and Borenius Group attorneys had the honor to represent Latvia (Liga Fjodorova) Estonia (Liina Jents) and Finland (Ben Rapinoja, Seppo Kemppinen). Representatives from each country provides presentation on the most interesting development in patent litigation in their jurisdiction over the last year.

Competition Council has allowed the merger of MTG Broadcasting AB and AS „Latvijas Neatkarīgā Televīzija”

2012-05-21T13:28:25Z

Attorneys at Law Borenius successfully represented the client MTG Broadcasting AB in drafting the necessary documentation for the acquisition of second largest commercial TV channel in Latvia – AS “Latvijas Neatkarīgā Televīzija” . We conducted LDD, assisted with drafting of the necessary documentation for 100% share purchase, and filed the merger notification to the Competition Council, resulting in a decision allowing the merger of the companies.

Since the merger is between direct horizontal competitors, Competition Council has defined binding commitments to prevent lessening of competition. Also Competition Council reserves the right in year 2017 to order to the merged companies in question to sell the acquired assets, in order to prevent the negative effects of the merger in the future.

Attorneys at Law Borenius listed in Best Lawyers®

2012-04-17T08:32:35Z

Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. A listing in Best Lawyers is widely regarded by both clients and legal professionals as a significant honor, conferred on a lawyer by his or her peers. For three decades, Best Lawyers® lists have earned the respect of the profession, the media, and the public, as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals anywhere.

Office partner Lauris Liepa has been named Best Lawyers` Banking and Finance Lawyer of the Year in Latvia

Office partner Laine Skopina is recognized in practice areas of Corporate and M&A, Real Estate and Labor and Employment law

Office partner Ieva Azanda is recognized in practice areas of Antitrust, Corporate and M&A

Borenius Riga office team congratulates Tallinn office partners Marti Hääl and Jaanus Mody for being named Best Lawyers’ 2012 Estonia Railroad “Lawyer of the Year” and Best Lawyers’ 2012 Estonia Insolvency and Reorganization “Lawyer of the Year“, respectively. As well as Helsinki office partner Jyrki Tähtinen and Casper Herler for being named Best Lawyers’ 2012 Finland Venture Capital “Lawyer of the Year” and Best Lawyers’ 2012 Finland Environmental law “Lawyer of the Year” , respectively.

Borenius – top tier firm in Legal 500

2012-04-19T11:37:40Z

Published for over twenty years, the Legal 500 Series provides comprehensive worldwide coverage currently available on legal services providers, in over 100 countries.

In the latest Legal 500 edition Attorneys at Law Borenius has received the highest rankings in the following practice areas: banking and finance; dispute resolution; EU and competition; IP, IT and telecoms; real estate and construction; shipping and transport; tax.

To see Borenius rankings on Legal 500 click on the image below

Attorneys at Law Borenius Top ranked in Chambers Global 2012

2012-04-19T11:56:59Z

Since 1999, Chambers Global has been researching the legal markets of over 180 countries, identifying the leading lawyers and law firms worldwide through interviews with thousands of lawyers and their clients.

Borenius has been ranked in top tiers in the latest edition of Chambers Global 2012 in practice areas of dispute resolution and corporate law.

See all our firm’s rankings at the following link:

New photo gallery for Borenius team

2012-04-01T18:05:58Z

For April Fools` Day we have set up new photo gallery with pictures from our childhood. To find out what these cute little ones are responsible for in Borenius team, click on the photo.

Happy April Fools` Day!

2012-03-31T21:47:03Z

Most people have heard about the McDonalds hot coffee lawsuit when a woman spilled hot coffee on herself and sued McDonalds. Jury awarded $160,000to cover medical expenses and compensatory damages and additional $2.7 million in punitive damages. However much more absurd complaints have been filed to courts in USA. If you look into it, seems like everyone who has some free time and is creative enough to think of who to sue files their complain and starts a lawsuit.

Christopher Roller was mystified by professional magicians, so he sued David Blaine and David Copperfield to demand they reveal their secrets to him – or else pay him 10 percent of their lifelong earnings, which he figures amounts to $50 million for Copperfield and $2 million for Blaine. The basis for his suit: Roller claims that the magicians defy the laws of physics, and thus must be using “godly powers” and since Roller is god (according to him), they’re “somehow” stealing that power from him.

Shawn Perkins was hit by lightning in the parking lot Paramount’s Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio. A classic “act of God”, right? No, says Perkins’ lawyer. “That would be a lot of people’s knee-jerk reaction in these types of situations.” The lawyer has filed suit against the amusement park asking unspecified damages, arguing the park should have “warned” people not to be outside during a thunderstorm.

More conservative Europeans tend to make their cases a bit more rationally; nevertheless humorous lawsuits are also here.

In Germany tourist sued tourist agency as in the hotel where he was staying during his vacation in Egypt there were too many cockroaches. The court satisfied his claim and he got compensation in amount of 10% of the total value of his vacation. The court announced that the acceptable limit of cockroaches per day was exceeded – there were more than 10 cockroaches per day! What keeps you wondering is how did the court set the 10 cockroach per day limit?

Another traveller wanted to claim his compensation from tourist agency regarding injury he had in result of jumping in the pool for children (70 cm depth). The accident happened at night and the man was intoxicated. Court declined the claim and pointed out that the act itself is a sign of some kind of madness and the partygoer himself is responsible for the consequences of his actions. Declined were his objections that the territory was not closed, there was no warning sign stating the depth of the pool and that the hotel staff member failed to prevent his access to the area.

There is an interesting story illustrating the situations when people “test” manufacturers and sellers of goods on their promises regarding durability of the products.

Russian sailor bought expensive watch and the salesman asserted that the clock is waterproof, crashworthy, it is not affected by heat or any other extreme use conditions. In case the watch stops working or breaks the salesmen promised a full refund. Sailor threw the watch on the floor, knocked it against the heater, poured kerosene over it but the watch was as shiny as before and was ticking as nothing has happened. Sailor was frustrated and anxious because of the lack of results. As his decision to show everyone that he can conquer the all mighty watch was final, he came up with a new plan. He decided to put the watch in boiling water. It took 3 hours of nonstop boiling until under the glass formed two tiny drops of water. Sailor felt overwhelmed with joy, such an achievement! The watch was returned as broken. Salesman apologized for disappointment and inconvenience, gave him a new watch and a full refund as compensation. However, as the experts in laboratory couldn’t get it straight how the water got in the watch, salesman kindly asked the sailor, if can remember under what circumstances during the usage did the clock break. Still overwhelmed by his achievement over the European civilisation masterpiece the sailor told that he was so clever and boiled the watch. Incredible silence filled the shop while the sailor was walking out. You could see astonishment in the faces of staff and there was only one question in mind of all staff members: “Why on earth did he do something like that?!” After this accident in the end of manual there was added in bold letters and only in Russian “DO NOT BOIL!”

One can argue if the story is true or not, nevertheless probably because of similar cases we can find funny warnings in manuals for household goods such as:

Hair curling iron “Do not use to curl eyelashes, it can cause serious injuries” and “only for external use”

Iron “Do not iron clothes on your body”

Steering wheel lock “Attention! Before driving take off the steering wheel lock”

On shower cap “Only on one head”

30 cm high CD storage „Do not use as ladder”

Pack of nuts served for passanger in plain „Instruction : open the pack, eat the nuts.”

Bottle of water „Open the bottle and put the cap aside. Do not put the cap in mouth.”

Happy April Fools` Day!

„The law often permits what honor prohibits” Bernard Joseph Saurin (1706 – 1781) lawyer, poet and dramatist.

„Common sense often makes good law” William O. Douglas (1898 – 1980), judge

March 16 Conference “New broom sweeps clean: time to reform Latvian arbitration regime?”

2012-03-13T09:39:55Z

This Conference aims to explore potential adoption of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration as the national regulation of arbitration in Latvia. Although discussions on improving our unique arbitration environment have been ongoing for more than a decade the focus was mostly on the problems and possibilities of improving existing regulation and the Civil Procedure Law. Following a well-established and universally approved practice this conference will take a look at challenges that lie ahead if Latvia became a Model Law country.

The conference is organized by Riga Graduate School of Law, Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in association with Borenius and Raidla Lejins & Norcous. Please see full conference program here. Conference is free of charge, to register for the conference, please contact arbitr@chamber.lv

MCB Finance raises Euro 20 million through bond offering

2012-02-28T17:33:01Z

MCB Finance Group plc , the consumer finance company providing credit solutions to retail customers in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, has raised SEK 175 million (Euro 19.8 million) through a SEK denominated asset backed bond issue to investors in the Nordic region. This issue constitutes a first closing under a bond facility through which the Company can raise up to SEK 500 million (Euro 56 million).

The bonds will rank as senior obligations of the Company and will be secured against the Company’s outstanding customer loan receivables. They will be issued at par, have a maturity of three years and carry a fixed coupon of 13% per annum, paid quarterly in arrears. The bonds will be affiliated to Euroclear and listed on the Corporate Bond List of NASDAQ OMX prior to 1 July 2012.

Borenius group offices advised on structuring of refinancing and conducted pre-refinancing legal due diligence of subsidiaries of MCB Finance AS operating in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland.

Ilze Bukaldere and Linda Lejina prepared section about Latvia for recently launched book „Data Protection & Privacy: Jurisdictional Comparisons”

2012-02-27T11:03:02Z

Data protection regulation experts Ilze Bukaldere and Linda Lejina prepared section about Latvia for recently launched book „Data Protection & Privacy: Jurisdictional Comparisons”, published by Thomson Reuters in The European Lawyer Reference Series. The book is prepared in reader-friendly question & answer format and covers 30 jurisdictions. Contents include legislation description, legal basis of data processing, international data transfer regulation, security of data processing and other related subjects.

Read more about the book, contents and order options here.