Monday, April 28, 2008

Trump Tower is protected from IP litigation

Newland International Properties Corp. (BVP: NEWL) has filed a US$200,000 bond with a Panama City circuit court to prevent damages from a possible lawsuit by the Jumeirah Group - owners of the sail-shaped Burj Al-Arab hotel in Dubai. The order also bars Jumeirah from continuing to send disparaging notes to Panama city permit authorities. This protective order is allowed by Judicial Code when there is a reasonable fear of damages from an unfounded lawsuit.

Law 15 of 1994 on Copyright does protect architectural designs. However, the law also states that the architect is the owner of the design, not the builder who is merely granted a license. Newland declared to the media that it received the plans from Upper Deck Properties. According to the original prospectus filed with the Panama Stock Exchange, Upper Deck is an affiliate of Newland. The original design was prepared by Colombian architects Arias, Serna & Saravia (an affiliate of Newland) for Upper Deck, which also has 2 members in the Newland board:

En el 2006, nosotros adquirimos el esquema arquitectónico preliminar para el proyecto del Trump Ocean Club de Upper Deck Properties, S.A. o “Upper Deck”, nuestra afiliada. Este esquema arquitectónico básico y preliminar fue originalmente preparado por Arias, Serna & Saravia, nuestra afiliada, e incluye los diseños y mercánica básicos para el proyecto y sus detalles arquitectónicos y especificaciones. (page 63) Upper Deck, una sociedad comercial incorporada de acuerdo a las leyes de Costa Rica y nuestra afiliada, contrató a Arias, Serna & Saravia, su afiliada, para el desarrollo de los planos y especificaciones del Trump Ocean Club en base a un contrato principal para diseño arquitectónico fechado al 30 de agosto de 2005. Subsecuentemente, nosotros adquirimos de Upper Deck los planos y especificaciones por el esquema básico y proyecto arquitectónico preliminar de Trump Ocean Club, en base a un contrato de compra venta de planos y especificaciones fechado al 3 de febrero de 2006.(80) Nuestra junta directiva esta integrada por 3 miembros, uno designado por Roger Khafif y dos elegidos por Upper Deck. (85)

Newland has not listed the matter as a material event in their Panama Stock Exchange NEWL listing.

More in http://mensual.prensa.com/mensual/contenido/2008/04/28/hoy/herald/1335288.html
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