A Chinese court has ruled against AMSC in one of its three civil lawsuits filed against Sinovel Wind Group Co. Ltd., AMSC reports.
In total, AMSC is seeking to recover more than $1.2 billion for contracted shipments and damages from Sinovel in these cases, which stem from Sinovel's alleged contractual breaches in March 2011 and AMSC's claims of intellectual-property theft by Sinovel employees in June 2011.
The smallest of the civil cases is a copyright-infringement complaint filed with the Hainan Province Number 1 Intermediate People's Court case against Sinovel and Dalian Guotong Electric Co. Ltd. (Guotong), a supplier of power converter products to Sinovel.
AMSC says it has compiled and presented to the Hainan court evidence demonstrating that its copyrighted software is being infringed by Sinovel and Guotong. AMSC is seeking a cease-and-desist order and damages totaling approximately $200,000 in this case.
In December 2011, Sinovel filed a jurisdiction opposition motion requesting its dismissal by the Hainan Province No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, saying the case should be governed by the Beijing Arbitration Commission. On Feb. 3, AMSC received the civil ruling from the court, which granted Sinovel's motion and dismissed the entire case.
AMSC's president and CEO, Daniel P. McGahn, says the company plans to appeal the ruling.
"We are starting to see motion from the Chinese courts, and proceedings are getting under way, as expected," McGahn says. "The Hainan court's dismissal of our smallest case is not altogether unexpected, and we are appealing the ruling. We continue to have confidence in all of our cases and expect that our legal actions will yield a positive outcome."
