AMSC Provides Update on Landmark Conviction of Sinovel
January 29 2018 - 2:30PM
AMSC (Nasdaq:AMSC), a global energy solutions provider serving wind
and power grid industry leaders, today announced the pre-sentencing
schedule from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of
Wisconsin following the conviction of Sinovel Wind Group
Co., a manufacturer and exporter of wind turbines based in the
People’s Republic of China.
On January 24, 2018, a jury of 12 U.S Citizens in the criminal
case of the United States vs. Sinovel Wind Group Co. returned a
verdict of guilty on all counts. The trial lasted 11 days in
Madison, Wisconsin and the jury deliberated for approximately three
hours before convicting Sinovel of conspiracy to commit trade
secret theft, theft of trade secrets, and wire fraud.
The schedule outlined by the court immediately after the jury’s
verdict is as follows and is subject to change: pre-sentencing
report from the U.S. Probation Officer is set for April 27, 2018;
deadline for parties to make comments on the pre-sentencing report
must be submitted by May 11, 2018; and sentencing is expected on
June 4, 2018.
As proven at trial, Sinovel conspired with others to steal
copyrighted information and trade secrets. Sinovel’s objective was
to produce wind turbines and to retrofit existing wind turbines
with AMSC technology without paying AMSC the more than $800 million
it was owed. Due to Sinovel’s theft, AMSC had lost over $1 billion
in market capitalization and reduced more than 70% of its work
force.
“We are truly pleased with the trial’s outcome. The prosecutors
presented overwhelming facts and evidence proving Sinovel’s guilt
during the trial. The jury quickly rendered guilty verdicts
on all counts. With this verdict, Sinovel and its agents have been
found guilty of committing intellectual property crimes in Austria
and now in America. We believe that Chinese courts should similarly
hold Sinovel accountable for its actions in the civil cases with
AMSC,” said AMSC’s President and Chief Executive Officer
Daniel McGahn.
“The outcome of this case is a victory for the rule of law. We
welcome the opportunity to work with the Trump Administration to
ensure that American companies’ intellectual property rights are
respected and protected throughout the world and to hold those who
steal accountable. We want to thank the Department of Justice
and Federal Bureau of Investigation for their hard work and
diligent pursuit of justice in this matter.”
A significant number of U.S. domestic and international legal
entities were involved in investigating and prosecuting Sinovel.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Madison, Milwaukee, and
Boston Offices; the FBI Legal Attachés’ Offices in Vienna, Austria
and Beijing; the FBI Criminal Investigative Division; the FBI
Intellectual Property Rights program; the Bundeskriminalamt
(Federal Criminal Intelligence Service) and the Bundesministerium
Fuer Justiz (Federal Ministry of Justice) in Austria; the
Landeskriminalamt - Klagenfurt and the Staatsanwaltschaft -
Klagenfurt (Criminal Investigative Police and State Prosecutor’s
Office – Klagenfurt, Austria); and with the assistance of the
Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the
Cybercrime Laboratory of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and
Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS).
Senior Counsel Brian L. Levine of CCIPS and Assistant U.S.
Attorneys Timothy M. O’Shea and Darren Halverson for the Western
District of Wisconsin prosecuted the case, with substantial
assistance from CCIPS Trial Attorney Joss Nichols and Digital
Investigative Analyst Laura Peterson. Additionally, the
Department of Justice’s Task Force on Intellectual Property (IP
Task Force) contributed to this case. The IP Task Force is
led by the Deputy Attorney General to combat the growing number of
domestic and intellectual property crimes, to protect the health
and safety of American consumers, and to safeguard the nation’s
economic security against those who seek to profit illegally from
American creativity, innovation, and hard work. About
AMSC (Nasdaq:AMSC) AMSC generates the ideas,
technologies and solutions that meet the world's demand for
smarter, cleaner … better energy™. Through its Windtec™ Solutions,
AMSC provides wind turbine electronic controls and systems, designs
and engineering services that reduce the cost of wind energy.
Through its Gridtec™ Solutions, AMSC provides the engineering
planning services and advanced grid systems that optimize network
reliability, efficiency, and performance. AMSC's solutions are now
powering gigawatts of renewable energy globally and are enhancing
the performance and reliability of power networks in more than a
dozen countries. Founded in 1987, AMSC is headquartered near
Boston, Massachusetts with operations in Asia, Australia, Europe,
and North America. For more information, please
visit www.amsc.com.
AMSC, Windtec, Gridtec, PowerModule, and Smarter, Cleaner …
Better Energy are trademarks or registered trademarks of American
Superconductor Corporation. All other brand names, product names,
trademarks, or service marks belong to their respective
holders.
Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange
Act"). Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements
about the schedule outlined by the court, including our expectation
when sentencing will occur; our belief that Chinese courts should
similarly hold Sinovel accountable for its actions in the civil
cases with AMSC; and other statements containing the words
"believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will" and similar
expressions. Such forward-looking statements represent management's
current expectations and are inherently uncertain. There are a
number of important factors that could materially impact the value
of our common stock or cause actual results to differ materially
from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. These
important factors include, but are not limited to: We have a
history of operating losses and negative operating cash flows,
which may continue in the future and require us additional
financing in the future; Our operating results may fluctuate
significantly from quarter to quarter and may fall below
expectations in any particular fiscal quarter; Our financial
condition may have an adverse effect on our customer and supplier
relationships; Our success in addressing the wind energy market is
dependent on the manufacturers that license our designs; Our
success is dependent upon attracting and retaining qualified
personnel and our inability to do so could significantly damage our
business and prospects; Failure to successfully execute any move of
our Devens, Massachusetts manufacturing facility or achieve
expected savings following any such move; We rely upon third-party
suppliers for the components and sub-assemblies of many of our Wind
and Grid products, making us vulnerable to supply shortages and
price fluctuations; Many of our revenue opportunities are dependent
upon subcontractors and other business collaborators; Growth of the
wind energy market depends largely on the availability and size of
government subsidies, economic incentives and legislative programs
designed to support the growth of wind energy; Our products face
intense competition; We may not realize all of the sales expected
from our backlog of orders and contracts; We have operations in and
depend on sales in emerging markets, and global conditions could
negatively affect our operating results or limit our ability to
expand our operations outside of these countries; We face risks
related to our intellectual property; We face risks related to our
legal proceedings; and the important factors discussed under the
caption "Risk Factors" in Part 1. Item 1A of our Form 10-K for the
fiscal year ended March 31, 2017, and our other reports filed with
the SEC. These important factors, among others, could cause actual
results to differ materially from those indicated by
forward-looking statements made herein and presented elsewhere by
management from time to time. Any such forward-looking statements
represent management's estimates as of the date of this press
release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking
statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation
to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.
These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as
representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of
this press release.
Investor Relations Contact: Brion D. Tanous
CleanTech IR, Inc. Phone: 424-634-8592 Email:
Brion.Tanous@amsc.com
Public Relations Contact: Nicol Golez Phone:
978-399-8344 Email: Nicol.Golez@amsc.com
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