經通國際智慧產權事務所

The “PC Card” connector company Santa Electronic won the lawsuit against Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Limited (also known as Foxconn) regarding “improper exercise of intellectual property rights”. The Verdict of the Intellectual Property Court (IP Court) stated that the original Decision of the Bian Ciao District Court should be dismissed; instead Hon Hai should compensate Santa a total of NTD3,163,337, from December 18, 2007 until the settlement date with an annual interest rate of 5%. The Decision has become the focus of the industry, as Santa is a much smaller company than Hon Hai. However, Hon Hai is still able to file an Appeal against this Decision.

The IP Court pointed out that Hon Hai’s request of provisional disposition has forced Santa to cease production of all types of Express Card Connector, under normal circumstances, Santa would suffer from lost of business operation. The Court made its calculation based on the standard profit of the industry and Santa’s net income in the year of 2006, and concluded that during the period under provisional disposition, Santa has lost a total of NTD 3,163,337 and Hon Hai should compensate Santa.

In December 2006, Hon Hai had filed a provisional disposition with the Shih Lin District Court based on the grounds that Santa was infringing three of their Patents. The provisional disposition would prohibit Santa from manufacturing and selling any product in connection to the Express Card connector. On the 26th of the same month, the District Court granted the provisional disposition.

Before the execution of the provisional disposition, Hon Hai published notices stating that “Hon Hai has received the Decision of Shih Lin District Court, allowing the provisional disposition filed against Santa”, which misled Santa’s clients into thinking that Santa was under provisional disposition and was no longer allowed to ship out products.

However, Santa was successful in appealing the Decision, the High Court has dismissed the provisional disposition. Although Hon Hai has filed an Appeal against this Decision, the Supreme Court has rejected the Appeal in November of 2007, and the Decision to dismiss provisional disposition was final.

Organized and translated by Dano Yi

International Affairs