Cases

Chad court fined ExxonMobil

A court in Chad has ordered the oil company ExxonMobil to pay a fine of USD 74 billion and to reimburse the African state USD 819 million in royalties.

The court delivered its judgment following a complaint filed by the Ministry of Finance of Chad on non-fulfillment of tax liabilities by ExxonMobil. However, it was pointed out that the actual fine may be lower, but it was not specified to what extent. It is noted that the figure indicated in the case file is USD 669 million.

The World Bank estimates Chad GDP at USD 14 billion, so the fine imposed on Exxon is six times more than this figure.

ExxonMobil is the pipeline operator through which oil is pumped from Chad to an export terminal in Cameroon.

A reminder that in the 2006 Chadian authorities accused both Chevron and Petronas of tax evasion and gave them 24 hours to wind up their operations in the country. The companies denied these violations and were later able to resolve the issue.

Court orders Samsung to pay Apple USD 120 million for patent infringement

The Federal Court of Appeals in Washington has ordered Samsung, the South Korean electronics manufacturer, to pay the Apple Corporation USD 120 million for infringing three patents.

This refers to systems of automatic text correction, “slide to unlock” technology (method of unlocking the screen by swiping it with your finger), as well as “quick links” technology, which automatically turns phone numbers and email addresses into hyperlinks. Earlier the court found the South Korean manufacturer guilty of violating Apple patents. Later, in February this year, the Court of Appeals recalled the verdict and declared invalid patents for “too obvious” technologies. Moreover, the same court adopted the conclusion that the US company violated the Samsung patent itself, for which it must pay its competitor USD 158 million. Now the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington has overturned February’s court decision. This decision was adopted by the full bench of the Court of Appeal in Washington by 8-3 votes.

A reminder that Apple and Samsung have been engaged in patent wars for many years and in many countries around the world. The biggest dispute between the technology giants became proceedings in which Samsung was accused of illegal use of US corporation technologies. Then the issue was about details of design, which were allegedly copied by South Koreans. In 2012, the US court ordered the defendant to pay USD 930 million to Apple. The sum of the penalty was later reduced to USD 548 million.

Oschadbank won court case against Creative guarantors

The Kirov District Court of Kropyvnytsky fully upheld the claim of Oschadbank to former managers and owners of the company Creative, namely Maksym Berezkin and Yuriy Davydov. Nearly USD 200 million were recovered from both defendants in the case in favor of the state-owned bank.

Currently, there are two other claims in courts from the state bank on debt recovery to former executives and founders of Creative Group.

In May 2016 Oschadbank won a court case against Maksym Berezkin in the amount of USD 25 million. In line with the court ruling all movable and immovable property owned by Mr. Berezkin was seized and enforced collection was started.

PJSC Creative applied to the Economic Court of Kiev with a request to declare it bankrupt in May 2016.

In August 2015 Creative Group reported about negotiations with investors regarding restructuring of its debt to Ukrainian and foreign banks.

In the summer of 2015 the board of Creative Group was joined by persons who previously worked in its largest competitor — agricultural holding Kernel — and at BTA Bank (Kiev). In September 2015 Stanislav Berezkin, the founder of Creative, announced his withdrawal from the structure of shareholders, specifying that 80% of the oil extraction business, as well as production of fats, margarines and spreads was transferred to other owners.

In February 2016 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the sale of the right of claim to the oil extraction plant Ellada (Kirovograd Region), which belonged to Creative Group, to agricultural group Kernel for USD 96.7 million by Ukrgasbank.