Latest Updates /  Litigation

Adv. Asaf Shalev will lecture today on the topics of founders agreements and IP at the Entrepreneurship Course of Startau, Tel Aviv University Entrepreneurship Center.

Adv. Ronit Offir, Partner in the Litigation Department at Barnea, was appointed as a judge to the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court. Adv. Offir joined our firm in 2010 and has extensive experience in representing Israeli and international companies in complex litigation cases before the District Court, the Supreme Court and in arbitration proceedings.

Adv. Itay Gura will lecture today on founders agreements and IP at the BEE program, part of the Tel Aviv University entrepreneurship center.

The Haifa District Court ruled that Gad Zeevi would have to pay businessman Zeev Rom USD 1.5 million in brokerage fees in respect of a deal in which Zeevi acquired 20% of Bezeq in 2000. Adv. Zohar Landa and Adv. Moran Bickel from the litigation department at Barnea, represented Zeev Rom.

Adv. Itay Gura from Barnea will lecture today on investment agreements and intellectual property to students participating in the Startup Science Innovation seminar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

After the rejection of the Nespresso and Nestle case against Espresso Club in which they alleged copyright infringement, Espresso Club, represented by our firm, filed an appeal regarding the amount of expenses determined by the District Court, claiming that the amount is unreasonable in relation to the actual expenses.

Adv. Zohar Lande, Adv. Jacques Gershoni and Adv. Yatir Madar from the Litigation Department at Barnea, succeeded in cancelling an arbitration ruling in the Tel Aviv District Court, a cancellation which was then upheld by the Supreme Court. The parties had appointed an arbitrator to hear and rule on a specific dispute between them. After the arbitrator had issued an arbitration award which had been fully carried out by both parties, the arbitrator joined forces with one of the parties, while attempting to ignore the arbitration award, which had already been carried out, with the aim of unilaterally issuing a new arbitration ruling. In fact, the new arbitration ruling overturned the original award, which, as noted, had been fully carried out by the parties. The party with whom the arbitrator had cooperated (the “other party’’), relying on the new arbitration ruling, filed a dual application to the Tel Aviv District Court - one for the approval of the new arbitration award and the second for the temporary imposition of liens on the property of Barnea’s client. Barnea's litigation team succeeded in obtaining an order for cancellation of the new arbitration award. The Court clarified that the new arbitration award was given without authority, because it exceeded the limits of the authorization defined by the parties and because it contradicted a previous ruling of the arbitrator. The other party did not accept the ruling of the District Court and chose to submit a motion for leave to appeal the ruling of the Tel Aviv District Court to the Supreme Court, as well as a request for temporary remedies in the appeal. Barnea filed a firm response to the other party’s request for temporary relief, in which it was made clear that the need to impose temporary liens was never examined on its merits in the District Court, and elaborated on the fact that the request for leave to appeal the judgment of the District Court lacked any basis both in law and in fact. The Supreme Court denied the motion for leave to appeal and instructed the other party to pay Barnea's client's legal fees and expenses. "It is known that the annulment of an arbitration award is a rare occurrence, and that it does not happen routinely," commented Adv. Zohar Lande, Head of the Litigation Department at Barnea. "This rejection by the Supreme Court actually means the upholding of the District Court’s  ruling,  the cancellation of the new arbitration award and, accordingly, the cancellation of the temporary remedies imposed on the assets of our client”.

Adv . Zohar Lande, Head of the Litigation Department at Barnea was interviewed by Globes on the Antitrust Authority's decision to impose an unprecedented monetary sanction on the Central Bottling Company Group (Coca Cola Israel). Zohar commented that it is not enough to set the monetary sanctions, submitting that the Antitrust Authority must make use of all the tools at its disposal, including the civilian tools.

The Tel Aviv District Court rejected the lawsuit filed by Nespresso and the global food company, Nestle, against the Israeli company, Espresso Club. Nespresso claimed that Espresso Club’s advertisement, which uses a look-alike of George Clooney, violates the intellectual property of Nespresso and constitutes unfair competition. The Court rejected Nespresso's claims and ordered it to pay Espresso Club NIS 110,070  in legal costs. Espresso Club was represented by Adv. Zohar Lande, Adv. Itay Hatam and Adv. Gili Cohen-Arazi from Barnea

Adv. Zohar Lande and Adv. Gilli Cohen Arazi from the Litigation Department at Barnea in an article for Chambers and Partners on recent trends in Israeli case law, which may indicate a change in the Israeli courts' attitude to judicial intervention in the business judgment of the Board of a corporation.

Adv. Zohar Lande and Moran Bickel from the Litigation Department at Barnea represented the CEO of Kitov Pharmaceuticals at a hearing in the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court relating to his release from detention, subject to certain restrictive conditions.

Our Litigation Department was interviewed by Maariv's "The Weekend" following Eliezer Fishman's declaration of bankruptcy. We noted there are ways to prevent the loss of all family assets, even in the event of bankruptcy, and to avoid involving the family assets with business assets.

Doing Business in Israel? A QA guide to doing business in Israel written by Barnea was published in the Practical Law website. The guide gives an overview of the legal system, foreign investment, regulation, and other issues pertaining to Israel.

Adv. Zohar Lande and Adv. Gal Livshits from the Litigation Department at Barnea are representing real estate agent, Roni Mana, and his agency, in a lawsuit filed at the Tel Aviv District Court against Arena Star Group Ltd, controlled by Marcus Weber, and the CEO, Michael Fuchs, for failure to pay brokerage fees in the amount of NIS 5.88 million.

Barnea is representing GBI Racing, a British company which provides betting services to Toto (the Israel Sports Betting Board). Adv. Zohar Lande participated in the Knesset Reform Committee meeting, which discussed the decision to cancel the permit given to Toto as proposed in the Economic Arrangements Law.

Barnea represents iTrader, an online forex trading company, which is under investigation by the Israeli Securities Authority. Adv. Zohar Lande and Adv. Moran Bickel from the Litigation department were interviewed by The Marker and commented that they hope the investigation by the ISA, which focuses on the company's activities during the period in which it was entitled to act as a trading platform, will end soon.

As previously published, Geller had filed a lawsuit alleging fraud in the amount of nearly NIS 70 million. Even though the main claim for fraud was dismissed, the District Court obliged Omer to pay millions of NIS to Geller deciding that they were granted to Omer as a loan. Geller and Omer both appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court denied Geller's appeal entirely, accepted Omer's appeal and returned the case to the District Court. This week, the District Court dismissed the action entirely and accepted Omer's argument that the funds were transferred to him as part of a share purchase transaction. The Court ruled that under these circumstances, Omer does not need to reimburse the funds or to transfer any shares.