HAAGA-HELIABASICS OF LAWWEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS

OnlineCourse

BASICS OF LAW

Online course

WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

Giving answers

Thepurpose of the weekly assignments is to make you understand the theory you have learned. Therefore study thoroughly the learning material of the particular week before starting on your assignment. Answering questions based solely on your assumptions is a waste of time because you don’t learn anything new. That is why you should make use of the course materials, acts and decrees when completing assignments. A databank of Finnish acts and decrees are available on the Finlex website at

After reading each assigned case, think about the problem and think aboutwhich provisions are applicable. The cases are short for practical reasons and don’t tell very much about the situation in question. Try to solve the cases by taking into account only the facts provided. If this is not possible and you need more facts, make assumptions but remember note them in your solution.

To get a passing grade, youranswers must be based on legal facts. Answers based on your feelings or opinions are not sufficient. Your answers must be based on legal sources. Remember also to provide the reasons for your answers. Pure declaratory statements (”the buyer was wrong”, “the offer was revocable”) are not sufficient unless you explain the reasons.

You need not indicate the sources you usedin the weekly assignments but you may do so if you wish.

Solutions and feedback

Correct solutions for the weekly assignments are posted after the due date in the same block where you submitted your answers. Study the solutions carefully and compare them to your answers, that is the best way of learning. The nature of online courses is such that it is the student who is responsible for his/her own learning.

Because correct solutions are provided, answers submitted after the deadline will notearn points or be reviewed.

The teacher gives general feedback after having read the students’ answers.

Assessment

The weekly assignments are evaluated as pass or fail. Each passing assignment earns 0.5 points in the exam, i.e. of the 20 maximum points awarded in the exam,the student may have gained 3.5 by completing the weekly assignments. However, more important than the points gained is the learning effect of the weekly assignments.

1st Weekly Assignment

FINNISH LEGAL ORDER, LEGAL PERSONALITY

  • Material:
  • AapoSurakka. Access to Finnish Law. 1st edition pp. 9-45
  • Guardianship Services Act, 442/1999
  • PowerPoint slides

ORIENTATION TO LAW STUDIES

Study the website Learn how to find the acts you need, and study how sections and subsections are organised.

ASSIGNMENT

Consider the following questions and give your reasoned answers:

  1. Is it possible that a one-month-old baby,Liisa, owns a piece of land?
  1. Today Liisa is 15 years old and she still owns the plot. She would like to sell it and use the money to rent an apartment for herself because she wants to move away from home. Can she do it?
  1. Can a thirteen-year-old boy buy jeans?
  1. A sixteen-year-old girl,Marja, has earned € 2,300 in her summer job. She would like to use the money to buy a motorcycle? Can she do this without her parents’ approval?

2ndWeekly Assignment

CONTRACT

  • Material:
  • AapoSurakka. Access to Finnish Law. 1st edition pp. 46-62
  • Contracts Act, 228/1929
  • PowerPointslides

ASSIGNMENT

Consider the following questions and give your reasoned answers:

  1. An airline company HiphopOy sent on Monday morning a letter to JihuuOy, offering 10 tickets to Peking at a reduced price. However, on Monday eveningafter learning about a quick rise in oil prices, Hiphop wanted to cancel the offer. Can they cancel it?
  1. Jihuu sent Hiphop a letter on Tuesday afternoon telling that they would accept the offer. Minutes later they heard about a contagious disease spreading all over China and they were wondering if the contract was already binding. Was it?
  1. Mr. Virtanen and Mr. Mäkinen spent a wild night drinking and recollecting the happy days of their youth. Virtanen told that he had always envied Mäkinen for his good luck with horse deals. Even now Mäkinen’s new horse had done so well in the shows that it definitely was worth at least

€ 10,000.Mäkinen was very pleased and towards the end of the evening became even more cheerful and drunk while Virtanen was drinking more moderately. At one pointMäkinen promised to sell his horse to Virtanen for € 5,000 because they were such good friends, and because he was so wealthy and lucky anyway. Virtanen quickly completed a written agreement, and so they signed it.

The following day Mäkinen denied having contracted on anything with Virtanen. He absolutely refused to give up his horse for € 5,000. Help the gentlemen!

  1. A dealer sells a bicycle built three years ago as a new model. The bike has been stored in a shipping terminal and in a dealership warehouse. What is your expert opinion on the contract?
  1. Sammy and Bill bumped into each other one fine night in the harbour. Sammy asked Bill to lend him € 1,000. Sammy also said that he would pay the loan back in a month. Bill went along, and together they agreed that the interest on the loan would be € 500. Comment on the agreement?
  1. A village shopkeeper has for years ordered ten kilograms of pork each weekday morning from his supplier. One Monday morning, when the Nordic winter was at its darkest, he ordered ten tonnes of pork by mistake. What if the shopkeeper received the ten tonnes of meat along with the invoice?
  1. A car dealer offered to sell a used car and its trailer for € 20,000. He failed, however, to give the correct price. The car alone cost € 20,000. Including the trailer, the correct price was € 22,500. The customer received a written offer for € 20,000 a few days ago and the corrected version for € 22,500 in writing yesterday. Specify the legal problems in this case.
  1. A buyer uses a messenger to make a verbal purchase offer. The messenger, however, tells the seller the incorrect price. The buyer had told the messenger that he was willing to pay € 7,900 for the merchandise and not € 9,700 as the messenger mistakenly said. The buyer refuses to pay the

€ 9,700 and tells the salesperson that he would gladly pay €7,900. The salesperson insists that he is to pay € 9,700. Solve the problem!

3rd Weekly Assignment

BUSINESS TRADE

  • Material:
  • AapoSurakka. Access to Finnish Law. 1st edition pp. 63-72
  • Sale of Goods Act, 355/1987
  • PowerPoint slides

ASSIGNMENT

Consider the following cases and give your reasoned answers to the questions:

  1. Case: Assembly Line.

TeknoprosessOyj delivered, on basis of a contract, a packaging machine to MakkaratehdasOy. The machine was installed as part of the assembly line two weeks after delivery, and Makkaratehdas was able to test the machine. Makkaratehdasnotified of a defect and claimed that that the capacity of the machine was significantly less than expected. Teknoprosess refused to compromise.Your comments?

  1. Ladies’ fashion manufacturer Fashion Ky ordered fabrics for the following season from PohjanKangasOy. The manufacturer had these fabrics on show on their stand at a fashion fair, and the parties concluded a contract setting 15 March as the date of delivery. However, on the agreed date there was no delivery. The seller informed that they had got a bigger order from France andin that deliver they had had to include also the fabrics ordered by Fashion Ky. Fashion Ky answered that they desperately needed the fabrics and 30 March would be their absolute deadline because any further delay would force them to shut down their manufacturing process. PohjanKangasdid not respond to this but delivered the fabrics to Fashion Ky on 15 April. Fashion Kyno longer accepted the fabrics saying that they had purchased fabrics for the season from another manufacturer.Analyze the case?
  1. A hardware store in Eastern Finland ordered lamps from LampukasKy, a manufacturer located on the Western coast of Finland. The parties agreed that the hardware store would pay for transportation in such a way that the seller would include the transportation costs in the invoice for the lamps. None of the parties came to think of insurance.

While in transit, problems occurred. There was an accident on a slippery road, the carrier’s car crashed with another car and practically all of the lamps were broken.

The hardware store now refuses to pay since they didn’t receive the lamps and since the contract between the parties stipulated nothing about this kind of situation. Is the hardware store right?

  1. A retailer bought 100 kg of blueberries from the dealer and checked the quality of the berries in the dealer’s warehouse. Since both parties were located in the same city they agreed that the seller would deliver the berries to the buyer’s store.

When the berries arrived the next day, the buyer was no longer satisfied with the quality. He immediately complained to the dealer. Does he have any rights?

4th Weekly Assignment

CONSUMER PROTECTION

  • Material:
  • AapoSurakka. Access to Finnish Law. 1st edition pp. 63-72
  • Consumer Protection Act, 38/1978
  • PowerPoint slides

ASSIGNMENT

Consider the following cases and give your reasoned answers to the questions:

  1. Which of the following cases are in accordance with the regulation of marketing as stipulated in the Consumer Protection Act?

a) A sports store advertised a Finnish bike for sale at €70. The components and frame of the bike had been made in Taiwan and assembly in Estonia. The bike was of a well-known Finnish brand.

b) Face cream was sold by saying ”Rejuvenates everyone by 10 years”.

c) A department store was marketing its Easter happening. The store’shome department had an Easter table setting contest and several celebrities were invited to participate. Customers got to vote for the best setting, and while voting they also could participate in a raffle, the prize of which was a delicious Easter basket.

d) A computer game was advertised on TV. In the advertisement a young boy played the game first thing in the morning, went on playing while other children left for school and continued until the afternoon when the others came from school. The message was that this boy had a much better daythan the other children.

e) A car dealer gave every new customer a Christmas ham into the bargain.

f) A computer was on sale as follows: ”Standard retail price € 2,300, our discount price € 1,790 – now lower by € 510!”

g) A manufacturer advertised its sneakers as ”being of significantly better quality and more durable than those of the competitor XYZ Ltd.”

  1. JussiJuonio bought a television set. The TV was on sale at a store and cost € 200. The seller gave a one-year warranty. The TV worked fine for 15 months but then it went black. Jussi called an authorized repairman to have a look at it. The repairman concluded that the picture tube was broken, a new one should be installed and it would be expensive. He said that obviously there was a manufacturing defect in the product because normally a picture tube would last for over ten years. Jussi requires the seller to rectify the defect.

The seller, however, refuses saying that he has no responsibilities since

a) the warranty period has expired, and

b) the TV was on sale.

Who is correct? What are Jussi’s rights?

  1. Solve the following legal problem between buyer and seller:Bill Batter bought a used video camera for € 400 from Chuck’s Camera World Ltd. Bill, however, felt that the camera was in poor condition. The sound was lousy and the picture fuzzy. Bill went back to the shop and asked if Chuck could replace it with another similarly priced camera. Unfortunately, Chuck was reluctant to replace the camera. He hinted that the problem might be with the user and asked if he could inspect and possibly repair the camera during the next week. Bill refused and wanted his money back if he couldn’t get a new camera.
  1. Family Mäkinen had bought a wicker chair for €15 in September. In December their neighbour, a stocky gentleman, came for a visit. When he sat on the chair it immediately broke down entirely.

The Mäkinens complained to the seller and declared the contract void. The seller, referring to the cheap price of the chair and the time passed since the purchase, didn’t agree to any remedy. What can the Mäkinens do?

  1. Ville ordered custom-made Venetian blinds for his windows. The agreed deliveryperiod was 4 weeks and the delivery was due on 14 May. That day, however, there was no delivery. On the following day the sales clerk called Ville telling him that the delivery was a little delayed but Ville could come and collect the blinds the next day in the afternoon. Ville did this but the blinds still were not ready. Now the sales clerk promised to bring them to Ville on 18 May. However, Ville got so annoyed that he declared the contract void. Analyze the case.
  1. Liisa purchased a sewing machine which was on sale for € 720. On her way home she noticed another retailer advertising the same machine for € 680. She returned to the first shop and required that the deal be cancelled.

a)Does the seller have to agree to Liisa’s requirement?

b)Can Liisa present further requirements? Give your reasons.

7. Consider the situations below:

a)Matti Virtanen orders a product from a domestic mail catalogue. Having received the package, he returns the unopened package to the seller, who argues that no proper announcement of withdrawal has been sent and the sales contract is valid. Is he correct?

b)An airline advertised cheap tickets to London in a newspaper. Mr. Koivisto ordered tickets for himself and his wife. Now he regrets the purchase since he actually should have put the money aside to be finally able to upgrade his ancient car. Can he return the tickets?

c)An artist came to a university hall to sell his paintings and some students bought his artwork. What can you say about the deals?

d)Minna bought a plastic bowl at a Tupperware party. Later at home her husband was very angry because in his opinion this was a total waste of money since they didn’t need this bowl. Is there anything that can be done?

5th Weekly Assignment

COMPETITION LAW AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIHGTS

  • Material:
  • AapoSurakka. Access to Finnish Law. 1st edition pp. 99-105
  • Act on Competition Restrictions, 480/1992
  • Unfair BusinessPractices Act,1061/1978
  • PowerPoint slides

ASSIGNMENT

Consider the following cases and give your reasoned answers to the questions:

  1. A local wholesaler arranges a competition in which any retailer who buys goods worth at least

€ 10,000 in the following week takes part in a raffle. The first prize is the opportunity to participate in a top management course for free. The prizealso covers a free trip to Sicily where the course is being arranged. Do you believe that such a competition is legal?

  1. PakkausihmeOy was a leading manufacturer of cartons for foodstuffs in Finland. Its market share was 80%. In addition to cartons it also made filling machines that could be used in filling Pakkausihme cartons. These filling machines were not necessary, however, since they could easily be replaced by other corresponding equipment.

A foodstuffs company that had used Pakkausihme packages for a long time bought a new filling machine from another manufacturer. Because of this Pakkausihme refused to deliver cartons to the company any longer. According to their business policy Pakkausihme only delivered cartons to customers who used Pakkausihme filling machines. Analyse the situation with regard to competition law provisions.

  1. Pakkausihmefaced a serious new competitor. Pakkausihme therefore decided to priceits competing products under manufacturing costs for a while. Was this legal?
  1. Finnish Wood is a marketing association of Finnish paper companies. Its target is to promote the trade of its members. A meeting of the association approved a marketing campaign to customers and to collect and register information on concluded deals (size of deliveries, customers, prices etc.). The aim of the campaign was to make the members of the association better known in the market. The association also formulated standard contract terms covering delivery terms, notifications, quality standards, exemption clauses, choice of law and choice of forum clauses. Also the price level and mutual pricing principles were discussed. The members agreed to strive toreduce mutual competition and to improve co-operation. These discussions were not recorded. Some time after the meeting a member of the association increased its prices by 20%. In a few months all the member companies had increased their prices to the same level. Evaluate the activities.
  1. Consider the following questions and briefly explainwhy they are true or false.

a)Industrial rights consist of patent, trademark and copyright.