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MTG

Battle for 3 rights continues

At the beginning of the month, TV3, the television channel owned by Swedish media giant MTG, lost its fight to prevent mobile operator 3 using the number 3 in its branding. But MTG And TV3 have now asked the Court of Appeal to overturn the decision.

Published: 26 July 2005 14:54 CEST

In the initial case, TV3 argued that the mobile operator’s use of the number 3 created a confusion, since both companies offer media services. As well as attempting to stop 3 using the number 3, TV3 demanded a fine of 300 million kronor and compensation of 100 million kronor.

But the court ruled that TV3 could not protect the number 3, irrespective of the format.

In response, 3’s managing director said he suspected that TV3’s owner, MTG – which is part of the Stenbeck family’s corporate empire – had ulterior motives.

“The ones who really wanted this process were not TV3 but another Stenbeck company, Comviq,” said Shlomo Liran, referring to another Swedish mobile operator.

“They didn’t like new competition and this was their way to try and stop us.”

Liran told Svenska Dagbladet that he was not surprised by the outcome. Tuesday’s announcement of an appeal is unlikely to have suprised him either.

MTG/TV3 are demanding from the appeal court precisely what they were denied by the district court. Thanks to the holiday, the companies have until August 15th to finalise the appeal and they are yet to produce new evidence.

But the mobile operator is unperturbed.

“We still think we have a strong argument for our right to use the number 3,” said Erik Hörnfeldt, press officer at the mobile operator.

“In our view MTG and TV3 have a small chance of winning. And that’s why we can’t rule out that there are other motives behind this,” he added.

Sources: Svenska Dagbladet

GAS

Three charged over makeshift gas canister bomb in Paris

French prosecutors have charged three men in connection with a makeshift explosive device made of gas canisters placed inside an apartment block in western Paris, a judicial source told AFP on Saturday.

Published: 7 October 2017 11:16 CEST
Three charged over makeshift gas canister bomb in Paris
Photo: AFP

The three, identified as Amine A, his cousin Sami B, and Aymen B., were charged late Friday with “attempted murder in an organised group in connection with a terrorist enterprise” and placed in pre-trial detention, the source said.

All three were arrested on Monday evening, two days after the device was found in a block in the 16th arrondissement, one of the city's most exclusive neighbourhoods.

In total, police found four gas cylinders – two of them in the hallway attached to a mobile phone which investigators believe was meant to be used as a detonator. The other two were on the pavement outside.

Amine A., 30, and Aymen B., 29, are both on the terror watchlist.

Three of their associates who were taken for questioning earlier this week have all been released.

“The consequences in terms of human life and material damage could have been dramatic,” Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said on Friday, adding that it was unclear why they chose to target that particular building in Porte d'Auteuil.

It also remains unclear why the men did not activate the device. Police tracked them down by means of DNA found at the scene.

Over the past few years, France has suffered a string of deadly attacks which began in January 2015 and has claimed the lives of 241 people.

Last month, the interior minister said 12 attacks had been foiled since the start of the year.

In September 2016, three women were arrested after a foiled plot to blow up a car containing five gas canisters near the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.