Lawyers with knowledge of internet/ecommerce - Munich

My company needs a lawyer mostly to look over our English (as in, for the UK market) contracts every so often. He or she should have knowledge of English (pref. also German) Internet law, as we are an ecommerce company.

It would be best if he or she were located in Munich and speaks German.

Any tips greatly appreciated - I don't want a list from the consulate as we did that last time and it hasn't worked out as expected. Personal recommendations or shameless self-promotion encouraged.

Advertisement links: Dr. Prymusala & Colleagues and Dr. Jung & O'Hara-Jung

I'm an Intellectual Property Attorney / Attorney at Law that will be moving to Munich on June 2nd. I will be working with a local law firm, Manitz, Finsterwald and Partner.

I speak German fairly fluently (one reason for the move is to improve it) and am a native English speaker (I guess that's obvious). We deal in all technical fields, particularly in the protection of intellectual property (i.e., patents, trademarks, copyrights), as well as licensing (i.e., contracts).

What company do you work for and what is the subject-matter of the work?

If you'd like to email me to discuss further, you can reach me at rpmccarthy@hdp.com.

Earlier this year I bought an LCD TV from the online shop topvision.de. After a few weeks the goods hadn't arrived. When I asked them what was going on, they said that the goods were out of stock and my money would be refunded. After a week or so, the money had not arrived. When I asked them (they don't answer the phone, you have to contact them via their portal), they said that my message had been sent on to the accounting department. Next time they said that they had looked into it, and my money would be returned. Anyway, a few months of this, and I still haven't seen the money.

Can anyone recommend a good laywer (in Munich) for dealing with this sort of thing. They don't have to be English speaking, just good at getting my money back.

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How did you pay first?

What JE may be getting at is whether or not you paid by credit card- if so, let them know you didn't receive what you paid for.

Yeah - if its a credit card you have no worries - you get an instant "chargeback" from the card company on request - piece of piss. #1 reason to always use a credit card online if possible.

Hi my husband is a good lawyer in Munich and is good at dealing in this sort of thing...

You can call him on his handy Josef Halser 0173 3511462 directly or at his office 089 595909
We had a similar problem, all it took was a letter from him and hey presto our money was refunded.
He speaks good english too...he has to living with me and my German!!!

Good luck, that domain is now redirecting to topvision.ch, along with a notice that they are winding up as of 31st July. They also talk a lot about web hosting, which seems strange if you were buying a TV from them.

All the more reason to work with the credit card company (if in fact you did pay with a credit card)- check their terms and conditions because there will almost certainly be a limit as to how long after the purchase you have to report the non-receipt of goods (i.e., the report to the credit card company).

It was actually http://www.topvision-online.de/.
I transferred the money directly.

better get a lawyer on the case
The forum link below has 97 pages of people with problems and frustrations the same as yours with that top vision crowd.
From random posts, letters from laywers seem to be the (only) way to get your cash/ produce if they are not being responsive.

http://www.dslr-forum.de/showthread.php?t=132897&page=96

That's what I now intend to do. Does anyone have any recommendations? I don't want some lawyer who writes a letter and then forgets about it (and then sends me the bill).

I believe englishrose already answered your question. And I believe it would be advisable for the lawyer to send the bill to them, and not to you.

It's kinda tricky 'cos whilst you "should" be able to hit them for your legal fees in reality they are liable just to offer you a refund at best, and then you have the tricky scenario of whether to accept that, or then chase for the refund PLUS legal fees - and of course if you choose the latter your are then going down a dodgy path - 'cos you will rack up more legal fees chasing the legal fees.

We can assume that if they are not refunding customers on request, the company is either bust, or going bust, so speed is also of the essence as well.

Ideally you wanna find a cheap/friendly lawyer that will send out an official looking "Letter before Action" for not too many €uros. Failing that you could also send your own scary looking "Letter before Action" by registered post.

You need to kinda decide yourself based on whether they are picking up their phones, what staff say etc.

Did you try with your bank? I had mine "draw back" some money once when too much was withdrawn from a regular payment. They double dipped.

Most important is to get something registered sent to them to prove that you have asked for your money and didn't receive the goods.

Good luck,
ff