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About a month ago, the Israeli High Court of Justice deliberated a case petitioning the court to order the Minister of Finance and the Director of the Israeli Tax Authority to impose value added tax on multinational companies, such as Google and Facebook, arguing that they are providing services and selling goods in Israel via the internet, without being required to pay VAT, which gives them an unfair advantage over Israeli competitors. The petitioner pleaded that the multinational corporations are conducting extensive business activities in Israel, which include, inter alia, marketing and communications in Hebrew with Israeli customers and payment in Israeli currency. The petitioner also argued against the “location of the server” criteria that the Israeli Tax Authority is using in order to ascertain whether a transaction via the internet is executed in Israel. The court dismissed the petition and stated that it is premature, given that the VAT authorities are drafting a circular on the said subject, which is expected to be released soon. The dismissal of the petition does not conclude one way or the other the issue of VAT liability, as this issue will surely be the subject of legal proceedings in the future. Nevertheless, the question of tax liability is only one aspect of internet activities. There are many issues, including slander, consumer protection, gambling, forex, pharmaceuticals, protection of privacy and copyrights, which are arising in relation to internet activity. In relation to all of these, the fundamental question is which legal system will determine whether any given action is legal or not. Of course, these issues are not unique to Israel, and significant progress has been made, and some judicial rulings on these questions have already been issued, in various countries.

Micky Barnea was interviewed by Globes, an online newspaper, regarding the firms recent activity and achievements.

Barnea and Co.'s MA and Kibbutz Sector departments recently represented Polycad plastic products Shefayim (POLYCAD INDUSTRIES (1989) LTD ) during a transaction to sell its holdings to Bram Industries Ltd., a public company in the plastic industry. Polycad held about 30% of the shares, which it  acquired 3 years ago, and was a partner in the nucleus of control of the company, along with the Bramley family. The transaction involved the sale by Polycad of all its shares to corporations controlled by the Bramley family, for a total of NIS 20 million, ending its involvement with Bram industries.

The unending struggle of keeping the net neutrality will determine how internet suppliers treat online content. In the meantime, Netflix is not satisfied .

המאבק הבלתי נגמר המתקיים בימים אלו בארצות הברית על נייטרליות הרשת הוא בין הניסיון לאזן בין הזכות לתחרות הוגנת לבין מניעת עומס על התשתיות. ד"ר דותן ברוך סוקר את המאבק המתרחש בין המצדדים בעיקרון הנייטרליות ברשת לבין המתנגדים ליישומו ללא הגבלות כלשהן.

Zohar Lande, Senior Partner and head of Litigation department, was interviewed by Channel 10 News re the Cadbury Anti-Trust litigation.

Barnea was ranked in 8 practice areas in the 2014 edition of BDI, a leading Israeli legal directory. The firm is ranked 'Tier 1' in Mergers Acquisitions and in  International Commercial Law. The firm is ranked  'Tier 2' in Infrastructure and project finance and in High tech and  'Tier 3' in Litigation, Capital Markets, Real Estate and Tax.

The publisher Israel Mizrahi  is suing his former partner Lior Sharf in an amount of about  NIS 11 million, claiming  that he has been misled through cover-up and concealment" Mizrachi, represented by adv. Zohar Lande and Daphne Klein, from Barnea, claims that Mr. Sharf covered up and concealed financial information related to Agam Publishing, their former business partnership. 

Simon Jaffa, describes in this special edition, the economic structure of the Israel economy and the coming break-up of monopolies and oligopolies, which are widespread in Israel.

The Tel Aviv District Court rejected yesterday (Tuesday) a claim of NIS 67 million that was filed by the Canadian businessman David Geller, against the LR Group and start-up "IN SPI AIR". IN SPI AIR  was represented by adv. Zohar Lande and adv. Gal Lifshitz

Israeli companies have rediscovered the AIM in London; in a conference titled, "Time for London IPO" held today, regarding the London Stock Exchange there were differing views concerning how beneficial the AIM is in reality. Micky Barnea, managing partner at Barnea, whose specialty is in London IPO's, claims that "unlike in Israel, in London it is the Board of Directors that has the last say as opposed to the shareholders as they do in Israel. Therefore the deriving power in the market is different and as such may not be suitable for companies with a single controlling shareholder, who would have less ability to intervene in decision-making and would lack influence over the structure of the Board of Directors." 

The Israeli Minister of Finance, Mr. Yair Lapid recently proposed that a couple with at least one child intending to buy their first apartment from a contractor will not be obliged to pay VAT. The head of real estate department at Barnea, Ariel Nadler, agrees that this proposal will allow young couples to buy an apartment, however, this step is not enough in order to change the current real estate situation in Israel.  Calcalist, 19.3.14.

As a part of the firm's pro-bono activity, we participate in the project 'a different kind of class' and we have embraced a 6th grade in Rambam elementary school in Netanya.

Adv. Zohar Lande and adv. Moran Bickel, filed a monetary claim for NIS 4.8 million with the Tel-Aviv District Court concerning the alleged fraudulent actions of a trustee relating to real estate investments in Thailand.

Zohar Lande was quoted in an article by the Kingsley Napley law firm. The article records recent quotes of leading commercial litigators from around the world. The experts discuss the recent trends in their respective countries. Zohar Lande is the only commercial litigation lawyer from Israel to be approached for his comments.  

Barnea's partner and head of internet department published an article (in Hebrew) in the Calcalist financial newspaper, regarding a recent Israeli court decision that compensated a plaintiff for defamation published against him on Facebook. Dr. Baruch criticizes the court's reasoning, that sought to place less importance and magnitude in respect of defamation published on Facebook, compared to defamation published via other avenues. Dr. Baruch argues, as outlined in the article, that defamation published on Facebook should be treated in the exact same manner in which any other published defamation is treated.

Lenny Sackstein, the chairman at Carmit Candy Industries Ltd.  which is represented by Barnea, described in court yesterday the difficulties in bringing witnesses to testify against Elite – Strauss  Cadbury case. To read more, please click here

Dun Bradstreet ranked Barnea  as a leading law firm in 6 practice areas: International Commercial Law, Mergers Acquisitions, Project Finance Infrastructure, Commercial Litigation, High-Tech and Capital Markets.