RTPR Allen & Overy has advised reputed sculptor Mihai Buculei on the negotiations with representatives of the Ministry of Culture and National Identity for signing the agreement, in amount of approximately RON 10 million, for the execution of the “Great Union Monument” which is to be erected in Alba Iulia for celebrating the centenary of the Great Union in 1918.
The RTPR Allen & Overy team consisted of Prof. Dr. Lucian Mihai, Of Counsel, Adriana Dobre, Senior Associate and Ana Popa (Nedelcu), Associate.
Adriana Dobre declared: “We are proud to have contributed to the process that ensures the achievement of this symbolic monument which will last over the time to honour one of the essential moments in the history of Romanian people. We would like to thank our client, sculptor Mihai Buculei, for giving us the opportunity to be involved in this project.”
Ana Popa added: “This agreement which is not a typical one, is of an extremely complex nature, which implied among other things harmonising the copyright concepts with those specific to a contractor agreement.”
Sculptor Mihai Buculei declared: “I would like to deeply thank Professor Lucian Mihai and his team which included admirable lawyers Adriana Dobre and Ana Popa, who professionally conceived the content of this agreement and supported me with full dedication during the whole intricate negotiation process.”
Professor Lucian Mihai, director of Private Law Department at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bucharest, is one of the most reputed personalities in the private law field in Romania, with 40 years of experience in teaching, scientific research and practice (as a judge, President of the Constitutional Court, lawyer, arbitrator etc.) and as chairman of the drafting committees of the new Romanian Civil Code and of the draft law for enforcing it. For more than a decade, prestigious international legal directories Chambers Europe and Legal 500 ranked him on the top tier in the Intellectual Property and Litigation sections.
RTPR Allen & Overy’s main areas of activity are:financing, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, insolvency and restructuring, competition, labour law, intellectual property law, litigation and arbitration, and providing advice across a range of business sectors including energy, telecommunications, finance, real estate and the pharmaceutical industry.
Selected intellectual property projects in which RTPR Allen & Overy have been recently involved are set out below:
- Rio Bucovina (part of the Maspex Group), one of the largest mineral water bottling companies in Romania, in a high profile unfair advertising dispute against a close competitor (Carpathian Springs) in relation to an aggressive marketing campaign of the latter
- currently representing the biggest American film studios (Paramount, Universal, 21 Century Fox, Disney, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures) in criminal proceedings which aim to stop copyright infringement of copyright protected works
- successfully represented Plafar Retail in a trade mark dispute concerning Plafar Trademark against SN Plafar SA
- Med Life S.A. in negotiating and executing a settlement agreement with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, with respect to the use by MedLife of its registered trademarks in relation to its core and non-core business in Romania
- successfully represented Areon in several litigations and procedures in front of OSIM (State Office for Inventions and Trademarks) in relation to trademarks and industrial designs
- successfully represented Centrofarm, a leading pharmaceutical retailer company, in front of the Court of International Commercial Arbitration attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania in connection with a dispute regarding the annulment of an assignment agreement having as object certain trademarks
- Rio Bucovina (part of the Maspex Group), one of the largest mineral water bottling companies in Romania, in an IP litigation initiated by a competitor with the aim to cancel the EU trade mark owned by Rio Bucovina
- drafting several legal opinions in litigations regarding trademarks on technical or novel aspects
Note to the editors:
1. Allen & Overy is an international legal practice with approximately 5,400 staff, including some 554 partners, working in 44 major cities worldwide.
2. RTPR was incorporated in 2004 and has been working in association with Allen & Overy since 2008. RTPR Allen & Overy has a team of 43 lawyers, including 5 partners: Costin Tărăcilă, Victor Pădurari, Alexandru Retevoescu, Mihai Ristici, Valentin Berea and also Prof Dr Lucian Mihai, Of counsel.
3. In this press release, “Allen & Overy” means Allen & Overy LLP and/or its affiliated undertakings.
4. In this press release, “RTPR Allen & Overy” means Radu Tărăcilă Pădurari Retevoescu SCA in association with Allen & Overy LLP.
5. Allen & Overy has been operating in the CEE region since 1991, when its first office opened in Warsaw. Since then, it has expanded its operations to include Prague, Budapest, Bucharest, Bratislava and Moscow, all of which are renowned in the market for top quality legal advice combined with local commercial understanding, as well as for their integrity and their pro-active approach to matters. Additionally, Allen & Overy signed an exclusive association with the leading full-service Romanian law firm Radu Tărăcilă Pădurari Retevoescu SCA (RTPR), effective from July 2008, expanding the number of CEE offices in which we are able to provide local law advice to six.
