AMSC, a global solutions provider serving wind and grid leaders, announced that its appeal to China’s Supreme People’s Court has now been accepted. AMSC’s appeal relates to the Hainan Higher Court’s decision on April 5, 2012 to uphold the Hainan Province No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court’s dismissal of AMSC’s civil case against Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd. (Sinovel) and Dalian Guotong Electric Co., Ltd. (Guotong).
This is the smallest of four legal actions that AMSC has brought against Sinovel. In total, AMSC is seeking to recover from Sinovel more than $1.2 billion for contracted shipments and damages in these cases, which stem from Sinovel’s contractual breaches and AMSC’s discovery of intellectual property theft by Sinovel employees.
In September 2011, AMSC filed a copyright infringement lawsuit with the Hainan Province No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court against Sinovel and Guotong. AMSC’s case is supported by a significant amount of evidence demonstrating that its copyrighted software is being infringed. AMSC is seeking a cease and desist order as well as damages totaling approximately US$200,000, making this the smallest of AMSC’s legal actions against Sinovel.
Sinovel filed a jurisdiction opposition motion in December 2011 requesting that the Hainan Province No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court dismiss AMSC’s case against Sinovel, saying the case should be governed by the Beijing Arbitration Commission pursuant to the terms of component contracts between AMSC and Sinovel. Not only did the court grant Sinovel’s motion, it dismissed the cases against both Sinovel and Guotong. AMSC appealed the dismissal to the Hainan Higher Court, which on April 5, 2012 upheld the decision of the Hainan Province No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court.
The rationale for AMSC’s appeal to the Supreme People’s Court includes the following:
[mappress]
Offshore WIND staff, May 30, 2012; Image: AMSC