ELTEK ASA Drammen 12 December 2014: Chinese listed company EAST UPS has admitted that trade secrets belonging to Eltek have been used in developing EAST UPS' controversial product.
The admission is the basis for a settlement agreement with Eltek that follows years of legal proceedings and devastating conclusions for EAST UPS by court-appointed technical experts in China.
EAST UPS, formally known as Guangdong East Power Co, has pledged in a court-sanctioned agreement to cease all activities related to the product developed based on Eltek's trade secrets. EAST UPS has further agreed to destroy all samples, inventory, modules and specific production facility of said product in addition to all related research and development material. According to the settlement agreement EAST UPS is also obliged to pay an agreed amount to Eltek in damages for costs related to the lengthy court process.
"While it has been frustrating to spend considerable time and resources on what was an obvious case, it was necessary for Eltek to make it clear that we do not accept any infringement or violation of our intellectual property. We believe that the commercial consequences of this isolated case are very limited, but it was important for us to stop a new competitor emerging based on our technology," said Morten Schøyen, Chief Marketing Officer of Eltek.
Schøyen emphasizes that this case was unusually clear-cut. Eltek discovered products from East UPS that were suspiciously similar to Eltek products. After acquiring products and analyzing them, it was found that the software was directly copied from Eltek software. Component specifications and product designs were obvious copies. Even the user documentation was a scanned copy with the Eltek logo replaced by that of EAST UPS.
The source was proven to be previous Eltek employees who later worked for EAST UPS.
"The settlement only came about when EAST UPS realized that the court would rule in favor of Eltek. We are very pleased to see that the Chinese legal system takes this seriously and is ready to penalize companies that illegally infringes on the intellectual property of others," Schøyen added.
For further information:
Morten Schøyen, Chief Marketing Officer
+47 915 17 452
morten.schoyen@eltek.com:
mailto:morten.schoyen@eltek.com
About Eltek:
Eltek is a strategic technology partner for power solutions. The company reported revenue of NOK 3.7 billion in 2013, and has approximately 2,400 employees and operations in almost 40 countries. The company focuses on power electronics markets, where it is one of the leaders in telecom power and a growing force within industrial applications. Eltek is also pursuing growth opportunities within the data center market. Eltek is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange (ELT:Oslo) and headquartered in Drammen, Norway. http://www.eltek.com:
http://www.eltek.com
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Eltek ASA via Globenewswire
