News

The Maxima Grupė and Franmax have requested Vilnius Regional Court to apply interim measures (seizure of property) with respect to Gintaras Marcinkevičius, Eglė Marcinkevičiūtė and Mindaugas Marcinkevičius who are the defendants in the proceedings regarding unlawful misappropriation of the Maxima trade concept and unfair use of its business plans in Belarus.

The companies had to take this step after it had transpired that the said defendants were transferring their property thus posing a real threat to the enforcement of the future judicial decision.
In September, the Maxima Grupė and Franmax brought a claim concerning the activities of Mart Inn Food, a company registered in Belarus, engaged in retail trade and related to the persons specified in the claim. The amount claimed was EUR 287.3 million.

The defendants held senior managing positions at the companies related to Maxima and, as a result, could have unlawfully misappropriated the information, which constitutes a trade secret and intellectual property of the claimants, and also various highly sensitive data, and used it unlawfully in establishing and developing the chain of shops Mart Inn in the neighbouring country of Belarus. The defendants publicly acted under the guise of and on behalf of Maxima thus using the contribution made by the claimants and their business development plans in Belarus.

The obtained evidence has revealed that in terms of technological and technical solutions, equipment and processes used for trade, layout of goods, and visual design and appearance of trade outlets, Inn Mart shops are identical and confusingly similar to Maxima shops.
In this way, consumers and businesses are being misled and the claimant's activities in the Belarusian market are being prevented.

"When we brought our claim in September we did not ask for interim measures. However, the actions of the defendants pose a serious threat to the enforcement of the future judicial decision. First, the defendants started transferring their personal property. Second, in October the defendants transferred their shares in Mart Inn and withdrew from its direct management. Third, the Ministry of Commerce of Belarus announced that, due various breaches, operations of Mart Inn will be temporarily suspended from 16 December. Fourth, we have serious concerns about the current composition and value of the defendants' property. Moreover, to our knowledge, claims in the amount of tens of millions of euros have been made against Mindaugas Marcinkevičius in other proceedings. All these circumstances raise fears as to the defendants' real possibilities to comply with the final judicial decision", Valentinas Mikelėnas, partner of the law firm Tark Grunte Sutkienė and attorney-at-law representing the claimant, said.

MAXIMA GRUPĖ, UAB – a holding company founded in 2007 to manage retail trade companies in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Bulgaria.

FRANMAX – a provider of franchise and agency services to the MAXIMA GRUPĖ companies in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Bulgaria. These companies use the retail trade business model conceived and developed by FRANMAX.

More information:
Giedrius Juozapavičius
Head for Corporate Affairs | Maxima Grupė
+37065915118
Giedrius.Juozapavicius@maximagrupe.eu