Battenfeld Chen Extrusion Systems Protects Technology

Battenfeld Chen Extrusion Systems, SMS Plastics Technology Group's JV in China, sued Dongguan Weltec Machinery Ltd. in an action to protect its technology. Dong-guan Weltec, a unit of Cosmos Machinery Enterprises Ltd., a publicly traded com-pany in Hong Kong, is accused of violating intellectual property rights with respect to a single screw polyethylen pipe extrusion line. Dongguan Weltec Machinery is al-leged to have used confidential Battenfeld Chen Extrusion System information to make a copy of Battenfeld's technology, and offer it for sale to customers. In the le-gal action, the Foshan Middle Court seized the copied machinery, and issued a sub-poena to Dongguan Weltec on October 29, 2003. According to Battenfeld Chen, it was discovered that Dongguan Weltec Machinery approached Battenfeld's suppliers a year ago last September with drawings in an effort to build essentially exact copies of Battenfeld technology.

Protecting intellectual property rights in China can be a daunting task, but SMS Plas-tics Technology decided to pursue this case vigorously, and this action puts its com-petitors on notice that copying technology will not be allowed. Battenfeld's state of the art technology has been developed over many years and is much sought after in the burgeoning China market. Battenfeld Chen Extrusion Systems was founded in 1996 and is a leading Chinese manufacturer of advanced technology extrusion sys-tems for PVC pipe and profile, Polyolefin pipe, blown film, and sheet.

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