Major Assignments - Intellectual Property & Media

One of the oldest M&A advisories in Estonia – Investment Agency and Prudentia, a leading Latvian corporate finance consultant concluded co-operation agreements to jointly provide corporate finance and M&A advice to private clients in the Baltics under the common Prudentia brand www.prudentia.ee. TRINITI partner Tõnis Tamme and Attorney-at-Law Siim Maripuu advised Investment Agency in contract negotiations. Read moreAccording to Prudentia partner Indrek Uudeküll: „As a result of strategic co-operation between Prudentia and Investment Agency one of the largest teams of financial advisers has been formed who share a joint view on the Baltic capital markets. Prudentia now has offices in Riga and Tallinn, offering their clients expert knowledge of local financial and capital markets. The goal of co-operation partners is to strengthen their presence also on the Lithuanian market, growing the Prudentia brand into the strongest player in the Baltic M&A market“, commented Uudeküll on their future plans.

TRINITI represented Scorify UAB, a Lithuanian company that uses AI to predict consumer habits, against Scor SE, one of the world’s leading reinsurers, in trademark registration case before the General Court of the EU. Scorify filed its logo for registration as a trademark for various real estate, financial and insurance services.

The General Court ruled that Scorify’ logo is not distinct enough from that of Scor SE in relation to part of the filed insurance services and that there was a likelihood of confusion. Consequently, the Court refused to allow Scorify to trademark its logo for part of the services related to insurance. However, the trademark registration remains valid for other services related to real estate.

Please contact Vilija Viešūnaitė for more information.

TRINITI won a trademark infringement case where TRINITI lawyers represented Louis Vuitton Malletier, one of the world’s leading international fashion houses and manufacturer of handbags, footwear and luxury accessories. The case was based on the action, brought by Louis Vuitton Malletier in 2018 against OOO Vostok-Jug and ten natural persons, requesting for destruction of counterfeit goods.

TRINITI represented the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) in registering the trademark “FIFA FUTSAL WORLD CUP LITHUANIA 2020” for the World Hall Football Championship planned to be held in Lithuania. The World Hall Football Championship is planned in Lithuania in 2020. September 12 – October 4.

TRINITI successfully represented UAB Vilniaus augma in a dispute with AB AUGA group regarding the validity of the EU trademark AUGA CO registration. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has ruled that AUGA CO, the AUGA group’s trademark, is confusingly similar to AUGAM, the earlier trademark of UAB Vilniaus augma, and declared the registration invalid for certain goods and services

We defended the creators of “Kuuuurija” regarding the so-called “cat factory” episode, as criminal proceedings were brought against the host, producer and cameraman for the offence of illegal entry. Read moreA report of a criminal offence was submitted regarding Katrin Lust and the Kuuuurija team in connection with activities that occurred in the course of filming the episode.  The defence argument was that the accusation was unfounded, not based on evidence and did not constitute a prosecutable offence and the act was not unlawful or wrongful. The North District Prosecutor’s Office terminated the proceedings before going to trial due to the lack of a prosecutable offence.

A suspicion was filed against the host of “KUUUURIJA”, Katrin Lust, regarding an unlawful search carried out in the so-called “child pornography” episode. Read moreWe defended our client regarding a suspicion for carrying out an unlawful search in the so-called “paedophile” episode. The defence brought its argument from an error regarding the unlawfulness of an act, which is rarely relied on in practice because, as a society, we are in general agreement on criminal law – it contains acts whose unlawfulness has been agreed upon in society, and everyone comprehends criminal offences. In the current case, however, at the time of committing the act, it did not seem as if the line between good and bad was being crossed. This was the view taken by experienced journalists, their attorneys and even the police officers who were present at the location. The North District Prosecutor’s Office agreed and terminated the proceedings, finding that Katrin Lust cannot be accused of an unlawful search carried out in the home of U.K., where Katrin Lust opened cupboards and drawers with the aim of discovering evidence, which could indicate that the man portrayed on Lust’s show was a paedophile, for the police officers present at the location.  Given that the activities of Katrin Lust were monitored by police officers who were present at the location and made no effort to stop her, Katrin Lust cannot be accused of having committed a crime – in a situation where the police officers did not stop K. Lust, K. Lust was not expected to understand that her actions were prohibited.

Kaupo Kutsar is a professional farmer and politician who raised questions about whether it is correct to use the tricolour flag logo (blue-black-white) on products whose main ingredient has no ties to Estonia and whether the statements that the manager of Toiduliit made about the logo are transparent and truthful. Read moreRegarding the claim filed by Toiduliit’s manager, the Valga District Court found that a retraction is not necessary but non-material damage has been caused with the use of inappropriate language.The dispute continues in Tartu Circuit Court of Appeal.

Harju District Court dismissed a claim filed against our client for publishing on social media. Our client shared a work painted by another person on Facebook. The court concluded that sharing other people’s posts on social media does not constitute a violation of copyright. Firstly, under Facebook’s terms of use, the defendant was entitled to use information that the claimant had posted to their own user feed. Secondly, the court also agreed with our client in that the defendant was entitled to reproduce a depiction of the work under the journalistic exception.

The District Court’s judgment has not yet entered into force and the dispute may continue in the Circuit Court of Appeal.

The client was represented by attorneys Karmen Turk and Maarja Pild.

Harju District Court delivered a judgment dismissing the claim filed by star-chiropractor Oolo against Katrin Lust.

The dispute was significant in more than one respect, as the court analysed several complex legal questions in its 42-page judgment:

• The journalistic right to use copyrighted material without the author’s consent and without paying any fees.
• The extent to which a claimant can rely on aspects derived from context, i.e. putting words in a journalist’s mouth.
• A journalist’s right to publish interviews conducted with their sources.
• A journalist’s right to use someone’s personal data if the person in question has previously published such data about themselves.

The dispute continues in Tallinn Circuit Court of Appeal.

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