The team of EPAM provided legal support to the Rusagro Group of Companies, the largest vertical agricultural holding in Russia, in securing trademark recognition of the Moscow Provensal brand.
EPAM’s competition and litigation team of lawyers has successfully defended the interests of multinational pharmaceutical corporation Novartis before the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia and in court in a case involving a breach of the competition protection law by a distributor that commercialised a generic drug in an infringement of the patent rights to the original drug formula.
EPAM lawyers advised on an international M&A transaction under English law involving the sale of a publisher of Pixel Gun 3D, the third most popular mobile first-person shooter game in terms of monthly players, for a total consideration of USD 70m.
EPAM provided comprehensive legal support within a project, which was structured as a combination of asset and share deal and included transfer of shares in the Russian subsidiary of SAC to the buyer, BouMatic.
A landmark case in the digital segment in Russia was resolved on 19th January 2022, with the Moscow Arbitration Court approving the settlement agreement between Yandex, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (FAS) and the claimants in a dispute over unequal conditions promoting Yandex’s own search results, rather than searches provided by third-party services . Yandex unfairly prioritized its own searches through the exclusive use of enriched search capabilities.
EPAM will launch a series of workshops ‘Regulatory and Law Enforcement Inspections: How to Protect Yourself’, where attorneys of the Firm will address the mistakes made that might give rise to civil liability, hefty fines and criminal prosecution, while being the subject of an inspection and will advise on how to handle these inspections successfully.
EPAM is announcing new appointments at its Moscow office. Since January 1, 2022, Andrey Bastrakov (White Collar Crime Practice) and Alexander Mandzhiev (M&A and Corporate Practice) have been promoted to Partners.
The Foundation Department of EPAM announces the start of an educational programme at the HSE Faculty of Law. Training will be provided by highly qualified practicing attorneys from EPAM. The department is headed by Denis Arkhipov, PhD in Law, Partner and co-head of Litigation Practice at the Firm.
On December 8, 2021, the State Duma Energy Committee created a working group tasked with improving the statutory regulation of restricted zones and zones of minimum distance to main or industrial pipelines. Pavel Baryshnikov, Administrative practice associate at EPAM, is a member of the working group.
EPAM’ attorneys provided legal support for the independent infrastructure operator Service-Telecom in obtaining the approval of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (FAS) to conclude a transaction to acquire a portfolio of mobile network towers from Veon Ltd. (Vimpelcom) in Russia for the amount of RUB 70.65 bn (US$ 957m). The deal included 100% of the shares of National Tower Company and about 15,400 mobile network towers.
The Arbitration Centre at the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) has established a Board for intellectual property disputes. The President of the RSPP has approved the Board’s arbitrators - recognized scientists and practitioners of the intellectual property market, many of whom have been directly involved in creating the basis for the regulation of IP in Russia. Helen Avakyan, Counsel at EPAM, was appointed as the Chairman of the Board. Pavel Sadovsky, Partner and Head of Intellectual Property / TMT Practice was appointed as an arbitrator of the Board.
Litigation Practice of EPAM defended the interests of the international consulting company IMC Montan in an exceptional litigation over an attempt to recover damages allegedly caused by consulting services.
EPAM’ attorneys provided legal assistance to HTS tentiQ GmbH, an international manufacturer of event marquees, tents & temporary structures worldwide, on contractual and currency control issues.
On October 20, 2021, an agreement to open a new foundation department ran by the largest Russian law firm - EPAM was signed at the High School of Economics (HSE). The study program is scheduled to start in November 2021.