Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Thursday, May 28 2020 - 23:00
AsiaNet
Court Order Against Senior Preventing Importation of Battery Separators Into the United Kingdom is Extended
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, May 28, 2020 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

 
Following the United Kingdom (UK) court's grant on May 7, 2020 of an interim 
injunction against Shenzhen Senior Technology Material Co., Ltd. (Senior) as 
requested by Celgard, LLC (Celgard), a subsidiary of Polypore International, LP 
(Polypore), the matter returned before the UK court on May 21, 2020. The 
court's new order continued the effect of the interim injunction pending a 
further substantive hearing that will take place on an agreed date between June 
29 and July 10, 2020. Senior provided an official letter to the Judge 
acknowledging its formal undertakings to the UK court. Celgard intends to 
pursue an injunction through trial of its trade secret case against Senior at 
the next hearing.

Photo - 
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1173562/Polypore_Celgard_Microporous_Membranes.jpg


Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/798399/PolyPore_Logo.jpg 

On April 30, 2020, Celgard filed an application for an urgent injunction 
against Senior in the High Court of Justice in London, England. On May 7, on an 
ex parte basis, the UK court granted an interim injunction to prevent Senior 
from importing certain battery separators into the UK. 

Earlier on March 2, Celgard filed a Complaint against Defendants Shenzhen 
Senior Technology Material Co. Ltd. (Senior-China), Shenzhen Senior Technology 
Material Co. Ltd. (US) Research Institute (Senior-California), Xiaomin (Steven) 
Zhang, Sun Town Technology, Inc., Global Venture Development, LLC, and Global 
Venture Development, Inc. (collectively, Global Venture) (collectively, WDNC 
Defendants) in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North 
Carolina (WDNC) for trade secret misappropriation, unfair and deceptive trade 
practices and unfair competition, civil conspiracy, unjust enrichment and 
conversion. 

Additionally, Celgard filed a Second Amended Complaint against Defendants 
Shenzhen Senior Technology Material Co. Ltd. (US) Research Institute 
(Senior-California), Farasis Energy USA, Inc., Farasis Energy, Inc., Farasis 
Energy (Gan Zhou), Inc., and Farasis Energy (Gan Zhou) Co., Ltd. (collectively, 
Farasis), Sun Town Technology, Inc., Global Venture Development, LLC, and 
Global Venture Development, Inc. (collectively, Global Venture) (collectively, 
NDCA Defendants) for patent infringement, breach of contract and breach of 
implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing in the U.S. District Court for 
the Northern District of California (NDCA). 

The WDNC Complaint alleges the WDNC Defendants, including a former Celgard 
employee, Xiaomin (Steven) Zhang, now CTO of Senior-China who changed his name 
to Bin Wang at the request of Senior-China, purposely and unlawfully 
misappropriated Celgard's trade secrets and confidential information and 
continue to do so. Several other violations of the law are also alleged. 

The NDCA Second Amended Complaint alleges the NDCA Defendants infringe 
Celgard's United States Reissued Patent RE47,520 (the '520 patent), formerly 
United States Patent 6,432,586 (the '586 patent), on ceramic coated separators, 
and Celgard's United States Patent No. 6,692,867 (the '867 patent), on 
polypropylene separators, as well as several other violations of law and 
breaches. See Release ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2814943-1&h=2944457234&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prnewswire.co.uk%2Fnews-releases%2Fcelgard-files-new-complaint-against-senior-xiaomin-steven-zhang-sun-town-and-global-venture-for-trade-secret-misappropriation-and-also-files-amended-complaint-in-patent-infringement-case-856580195.html&a=See+Release 
).

In December 2019, Celgard filed a First Amended Complaint in the NDCA adding to 
the suit the Defendants Farasis, Sun Town, and Global Venture. See Release ( 
https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/celgard-files-amended-complaint-adding-farasis-sun-town-and-global-venture-to-lawsuit-against-senior-for-patent-infringement-and-trade-secret-misappropriation-856158718.html 
). 

In September 2019, Celgard filed suit against Senior who sells separators 
globally that they make in Shenzhen, China. Celgard's Complaint alleges Senior 
has infringed Celgard's U.S. '520 and '867 patents on ceramic coated and 
polypropylene separators, and has unlawfully misappropriated and misused 
Celgard's trade secrets and confidential information, among other violations 
and seeks compensation for damages. See Release ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2814943-1&h=2914048345&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prnewswire.com%2Fnews-releases%2Fcelgard-files-lawsuit-against-senior-for-patent-infringement-of-ceramic-coated-separators-used-in-lithium-batteries-300919235.html%3Ftc%3Deml_cleartime&a=See+Release 
).

In September 2019, Celgard successfully settled a patent infringement lawsuit 
against Targray International. See Release ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2814943-1&h=3407769144&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prnewswire.com%2Fnews-releases%2Fcelgard-successfully-sues-targray-on-infringement-of-celgards-ceramic-coated-battery-separator-patent-300914298.html&a=See+Release 
). Celgard also successfully settled two suits in June 2019, against MTI 
Corporation. See Release ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2814943-1&h=2166979077&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.prnewswire.com%2Fnews-releases%2Fcelgard-successfully-sues-mti-corporation-on-mtis-infringement-of-celgards-ceramic-coated-battery-separator-patent-300859501.html&a=See+Release 
).

The effective extension of the interim injunction and the successful outcome of 
the Targray and MTI cases further solidifies the integrity of Celgard's 
intellectual property (IP) regarding coated and uncoated separators for 
lithium-ion batteries. Celgard will continue to prevent the unfair exploitation 
of its technology and IP to safeguard its assets and customers. 

About Celgard and Polypore 

Celgard specializes in coated and uncoated dry-process microporous membranes 
used as separators that are a major component of lithium-ion batteries. 
Celgard's battery separator technology is important to the performance of 
lithium-ion batteries for electric drive vehicles, energy storage systems and 
other applications. 

Celgard, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Polypore International, LP, an 
Asahi Kasei Company. 

Polypore is a global company with facilities in nine countries specializing in 
microporous membranes used in electric and nonelectric vehicles, energy storage 
systems and specialty applications. Visit www.celgard.com and www.polypore.com.

SOURCE  Polypore International, LP

CONTACT: Beth Kitteringham, polycorpcom@polypore.net, (704) 587-8596, 
www.polypore.com
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