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StartUp Open competition for start-ups is underway and companies are narrowing down. From near to hundred companies, which entered the competition, the judges have selected seven finalists to move forward and partake in the final event of the national competition that will take place on September 22nd , 2014 in Jerusalem.

Michael Barnea, Managing Partner from Barnea & Co, said, "As part of our long standing relationship with the Israeli entrepreneurial community, Barnea is proud to be a part of this  StartUp Open competition.  At the semi-final we identified a number of promising and innovative ventures and I am looking forward to pick out the winning start up at the finals. The wide spectrum of business ideas and industries represented by the final candidates are the talented and creative Israel start-up and hi-tech industry."

Barnea’s litigation team represented a client before the Supreme Court in a precedent setting landmark appeal concerning fundamental obligations under Israel's securities law and tort law. The Supreme Court overturned the rulings of the District Court and accepted our firm’s position that a duty of care does not exist between shareholders of a company, which were found jointly guilty in violating securities laws.

During the International Labor and Employment Law Committee Midyear Meeting in Tel Aviv, the Committee asked a panel of leading attorneys, which included Marie Tsion. The panel dealt with women in a global practice and the challenges they face. To read more, please click here

Barnea together with the Enterprise Forum, Israel Advanced Technology Industries,  is pleased to sponsor the 2014 StartUp Open Competition to be held on 22 September in Jerusalem. StartUp Open is a competition featured during Global Entreperneurship Week. The competition was originally launched as part of the Kauffman Foundation Global Entrepreneurship Week in 2010 and has since been a leader in the promotion and nourishment of aspiring entrepreneurs. StartUp Open is one of the world's largest competitions for startup companies and boasts participation from 37 countries. The start-up competition focuses on companies that made significant progress between November 25, 2013 (Global Entrepreneurship Week 2013) and November 16, 2014 (Global Entrepreneurship Week 2014). For further information, please contact: Gil Shourka, National Coordinator GEW – Israel. Email: [email protected]

Following the successful launch of MarginProbe System, which received Pre-Market Approval (PMA) from the FDA early last year, Dune Medical Devices Ltd. has successfully completed the first of a two stage USD21 million equity financing. The initial closing was completed for USD14 million with a second tranche of USD7 million to be completed by October 2014.

Dune Medical Devices develops surgical devices and techniques for real-time, intra-operative optimization of excisions in surgical oncology procedures.Dune Medical Devices has offices in the U.S. and in Israel.

In 2010, the Committee for Compensation and Royalties made a “revolutionary” ruling regarding the assignment by employees to their employers of rights to "service inventions" – i.e. inventions created in the course of employment. The Committee held that the assignment of an invention does not automatically amount to a waiver of the employee's right to receive compensation for such invention under section 134 of the Patents Law (1967). Although the employer would be the owner of a patent invented by an employee, it may still be compelled to pay the employee royalties for their contribution to the company's technology. This ruling sent proverbial shockwaves through the Israeli high tech industry. Companies, potential acquirers and investors struggled with assessing the risk as to whether employees, both past and present, would now seek compensation for the work they had performed for their employers. In a recent decision the situation appears to have been clarified. On 4 May 2014, the same Committee appears to have revised its position, when it rejected a claim for royalties by a former employee. The Committee ruled that an employee's right to compensation for "service inventions" is not absolute and such right may be waived. The Committee also found that a general waiver signed by the employee upon his termination was sufficient to relieve the employer from the requirement to pay royalties – even if such waiver did not make specific reference to inventions or to section 134 of the Patents Law. According to this latest decision by the Committee, an assignment of rights of "service inventions" together with a general release upon termination would now be sufficient to ensure that the employer will have no further liability to employees who have contributed to inventions. Nevertheless, it would still be prudent to include an express waiver of rights to royalties for "service inventions" in all employment agreements.

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 M&A 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.