Monday, March 12
Contractual obligations
Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Corporation (NLMK) vs Nikolai Maximov
NLMK seeks to cancel a shares-purchase contract, according to which NLMK purchased a controlling stake in Maxi-Group. The plaintiff also claims back 7.3 billion rubles ($233 million) that it paid to Maximov for a stake in Maxi-Group.
NLMK acquired a 50-percent plus one share stake in Maxi-Group from Maximov in December 2007. NLMK paid a 7.3 billion ruble down payment to Maximov. The parties eventually disagreed on the final cost of the deal, which resulted in several mutual lawsuits.
Maxi-Group was declared bankrupt on August 25, 2011.
Corporate law
Navalny vs Rosneft
A renowned whistleblower and a minority shareholder in several major Russian state-owned companies Alexei Navalny requests from Rosneft to show a number of corporate documents. Earlier two lawsuits filed by Navalny were consolidated.
The plaintiff asked for the copies of contracts, concluded as part of an oil supply deal with China and minutes of the Rosneft 2009 board meetings.
Navalny's rights concerning minutes issue were finally recognized by the court. Yet, Rosneft may exclude some data before passing it to minority shareholder due to the company's confidence policy. This issue is still under consideration.
Intellectual property
Champagne Louis Roederer vs patent service
The plaintiff, famous wine producer, seeks to revoke the Russian patent watchdog's 2008 decision which invalidated the registration of its Cristal trademark in Russia. This was done under the application of Soyuzplodoimport, which owns the Kristal trademark registered for vodka.
Soyuzplodoimport claimed that both trademarks will be perceived by consumers as the transliteration of the Russian word "kristall" (En. crystal).
Tuesday, March 13
Corporate law
Baturin vs Inteco
Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals
Russian businessman Viktor Baturin seeks Inteco company’s sale to be declared unlawful. Inteco reported its sale to Binbank owner Mikhail Shishkanov and Sberbank Investments in September 2011.
Inteco is a leading diversified development company in Russia. The company is allegedly owned by Yelena Baturina, Russia’s richest woman and the wife of former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. It was founded in 1991and Viktor Baturin claims 25% stake in Inteco.
The claim was earlier rejected but the plaintiff filed an appeal.
Tax law
IKEA vs Federal Tax Service
IKEA MOS demands from the tax service to withdraw 500 million rubles ($16.4 million) tax claims.
The Moscow Commercial Court partially upheld the lawsuit on December 14, 2010. The appeals court upheld the decision.
IKEA demanded that the lawsuit be satisfied in full, the case was sent for reconsideration.
IKEA MOS owns and manages shopping centers under the Mega brand in Russia.
Wednesday, March 14
Insurance
Strabag AG vs Ingosstrakh, Chartis, ACE
Strabag, Austrian construction company, challenged the indemnity amount paid by Ingosstrakh, Chartis and ACE insurance companies for an accident when a multiple-story underground parking in the Vivaldi Plaza office and hotel complex in Moscow collapsed in September 2009. The building with an underground parking area was built by Strabag AG.
The petition for a loss assessment was filed by the defendants and supported by the claimant.
Austrian construction group Strabag was founded in 1835. Strabag has been operating in Russia from 1991 under the "Ilbau" brand. Strabag's Russian division was founded in 1999.
Founded in 1947, Ingosstrakh is Russia's leading insurance company. It operates offices in 231 towns and cities across Russia.
The Chartis Group is the world leader in property and life insurance. It serves over 70 million clients in more than 160 countries. It has been working for 17 years on the Russian market.
ACE is the Russian subsidiary of ACE Group of Companies (Bermudas).
Debt Recovery
Gazprombank vs Taganrog Motor Works (TagAz)
Gazprombank is seeking debt recovery from Taganrog Motor Works (TagAz) in the amount of 46.7 million euro. The defend ant’s debt stemmed from two credit agreements. The lawsuit was submitted to court on December 23, 2011.
Gazprombank also seeks to levy of execution on pledged property.
TagAz was founded in February 1997. It began cooperating with South Korea’s Hyundai in 2001.
Gazprombank, which was established in 1990, is a head bank of the Gazprombank Group, which comprises the bank, petrochemical and media assets.
Thursday, March 15
Insurance
Management Company Ingosstrakh Investments vs BNP Paribas, Russian Machines
Moscow District Federal Commercial Court
Ingosstrakh Investments seeks to invalidate the guarantee contract that Russian Machines issued to BNP Paribas in October 2008. The contract was signed to partially secure the $1.2 billion loan that BNP Paribas granted Russian Machines' subsidiary Veleron Holding B.V. in 2007 to acquire a 20-percent stake in Magna, Canadian automotive supplier.
The claim was earlier rejected, Ingosstrakh Investments filed a cassation appeal.
OJSC Management Company Ingosstrakh Investments is an affiliated company of Ingosstrakh Insurance, which has operated in the domestic and international markets since 1947.
Russian Machines is a subsidiary of Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element.
Friday, March 16
Competition
Ru-center vs Federal Antimonopoly Service
Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals
The antimonopoly watchdog concluded in July 2011 that Ru-Center violated a domain registration law while registering domains in .rf (.рф) zone and fined it $7.8 million.
Ru-Center filed a lawsuit and in November 2011 the antimonopoly service's resolution was revoked. The watchdog now appeals the ruling.
Ru-Center is one of the largest Russian registrars, which serves two million domain names.
