By Thulani Mpofu
A Russian television station has won a court order for the seizure of Google’s assets in South Africa over the global tech giant’s failure to reinstate the Moscow-based entity’s YouTube channel.
News24 wrote on June 11 that South Africa’s Gauteng division of the High Court allowed for the attachment of Google’s shares and trademarks held in Africa’s most developed nation.
Zané Hartman, director of Johannesburg-based Pagel Schulenburg Attorneys, which is representing the Russian network, No Fond Pravoslavnogo Televideniya (NFPT), Business Report wrote on June 12, said a high court application was also served electronically on Google LLC in California, US, last week.
“The main application against Google LLC is for the conversion of the foreign civil judgment confirmed by the Ninth Arbitrazh Court of Appeal in Russia,” Hartman said.
“The Russian civil judgment is two-fold: Firstly, it orders the reinstatement of the YouTube channel belonging to the Russian NPO. Secondly, it imposes astreinte [a monetary penalty for failure to reinstate the channel]. What the main application seeks to achieve, is to obtain a court order in South Africa that enforces the Russian judgment here, specifically the astreinte that is being imposed on Google LLC.”
The firm said this would mean that the Russian not-for-profit organisation, whose name translates to The Foundation for Orthodox Television, was entitled to execute the judgment against Google LLC within South African borders in all the ways provided for in terms of the law, meaning a sales in execution of Google LLC’s assets.
Pagel Schulenburg Attorneys represents NFPT, which operates a Russian media company known as “Spas” in its application against the Alphabet Group, of which Google is a wholly-owned subsidiary. The European Union sanctioned the radio station in December 2023.
The matter dates back to March 2023 when an award was made by the Moscow Arbitrazh Court against Google LLC, ordering the reinstatement of Russian channel’s YouTube Channel, and imposing astreinte. Google appealed three months later but lost the case leading to NFPT launching the ex parte application in South Africa in December2023 seeking an order allowing edictal citation and substituted service, Hartman said.
“In March of this year, the order in terms of the ex parte application was granted, which led to the main application being served electronically on Google LLC and the assets of Google LLC being attached by the sheriff at Google’s South African premises.”
The main application against Google LLC, Pagel said, was for the conversion of the foreign civil judgment confirmed by the Ninth Arbitrazh Court of Appeal in Russia. If the application succeeds, the Russian entity will be entitled to execute the judgment against Google LLC in South Africa.
Reached for comment by Business Report, Google said they were still taking legal advice.
