Swedish language daily Hufvudstadsbladet features a front-page story about Helsinki’s long-term plans to expand into more of what the paper called an "urban metropolis."
The 35-year proposal includes building apartments for a quarter of a million new residents and major changes to the inner-city traffic system, the paper writes.
The plan, which will cost the city some 45 billion euros over the next few decades, calls for expansion of the tram system which would reduce automobile and bus traffic on the streets.
However, unlike cities such as London and Stockholm, there are no current plans for vehicle congestion fees or toll roads in the city, according to city planner Richard Manninen, the paper writes.
City councillors will discuss the long term plans this winter, the paper writes.
British company sells cheap Finnish design copies
Helsinki’s largest daily Helsingin Sanomat writes on Monday about a British website that sells copies of iconic Nordic designers for a fraction of what the originals cost.
Voga.com sells a version of Eero Aarnio's iconic "Ball Chair" for less than a fifth of the price of the original chair which costs nearly 5,500 euros. Voga’s version costs some 1,058 euros, the paper writes.
How long the company will be able to sell the copies is unknown. Lawyer Marja Tommila told the paper that Voga is infringing on intellectual copyrights, despite the company’s claim that it is completely legitimate.
Last year, citing copyright law violations by the company, a Danish court ordered Voga to block Danish IP addresses. For the time being it is apparently still legal for companies in the UK to make copies of otherwise-copyrighted designs.
A few EU states had shorter protections for furniture design. In the UK an article in the Copyright Designs and Patents Act of 1988 limited protections of furniture designs to only 25 years from the first sale of the product.
That article was recently repealed, but there is still a transition period before UK intellectual property law changes to the common EU copyright protection of the life of the designer plus 70 years, the paper explains.
Voga also sells copies of pieces by Finnish designers Alvar Aalto and Eero Saarinen. Michael Ritscher, a lawyer from Finnish design retailer Artek’s mother company Vitra, says that Artek is in a legal battle against Voga and other knockoff companies around the world.
"Consumers should think twice before buying a counterfeit," Ritscher told the newspaper.
He said that the value of counterfeits do not increase and that consumers who can’t afford an original should either save up their money or buy from young designers; "products that are more affordable but genuine."
"Spiderman" jumps from hotel tower
It happened again. Despite efforts by the operators of Finland’s tallest hotel to keep base jumpers from leaping from its top-floor terrace, a person dressed as the superhero Spiderman did just that over the weekend, Iltalehti writes.
According to hotel staff the jump took place at about 8:30 pm on Saturday and was carefully planned and executed.
The Torni hotel’s director Mikko Kankaanpää said that security cameras captured images of the jumper exiting a bathroom dressed in the superhero’s familiar red and blue spandex costume and then quickly made his move, jumping from the terrace.
When the jumper parachuted to the ground a car was waiting to whisk the man away. Police are investigating the incident.
The last time a person base jumped from the hotel was nearly a year ago and plans to create a physical barrier to prevent jumpers are already underway, the paper writes.
