Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Wednesday, October 14 2020 - 06:12
AsiaNet
Celgard Successful in UK Appeal Court, Keeping Injunction Against Senior UK Battery Separator Imports Through Trial
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina, Oct. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

Following a September 29 appeal hearing, the UK Court of Appeal on October 9 
dismissed Senior's appeal of the UK High Court's July 30 Judgement, and August 
6 Order, granting an injunction through trial in the terms sought by Celgard 
that blocks Senior's import of Battery Separators into the UK through trial. In 
its first decision to consider the EU Trade Secrets Directive and equivalent 
domestic Regulations, the UK Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the UK High 
Court to grant an interim injunction under the Regulations to prevent the 
import of allegedly "infringing goods" into the UK. The Court of Appeal's 
dismissal of Senior's appeal supports the UK High Court's Judgement in favor of 
Celgard, which not only granted the injunction against Senior, but also held 
that Celgard had established an arguable case that Senior had used its trade 
secrets in developing and manufacturing battery separators and that England was 
the proper forum for the importation dispute.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1311643/Celgard_General.jpg 
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/798399/PolyPore_Logo.jpg  

Celgard, LLC (Celgard), a subsidiary of Polypore International, LP (Polypore) 
first obtained an ex parte interim injunction Order against Shenzhen Senior 
Technology Material Co., Ltd. (Senior) on May 7. On July 30, following a full 
substantive hearing, the UK High Court gave Judgement continuing the injunction 
and on August 6 made a corresponding Order in the terms sought by Celgard that 
blocks Senior's import of Battery Separators into the UK through trial. 

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. 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. See 
Release [ 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2947925-1&h=861037274&u=https%3A%2F%2Fc212.net%2Fc%2Flink%2F%3Ft%3D0%26l%3Den%26o%3D2814943-1%26h%3D2944457234%26u%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.prnewswire.co.uk%252Fnews-releases%252Fcelgard-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%26a%3DSee%2BRelease&a=See+Release 
].

Additionally, on August 6, Celgard filed a Third Amended Complaint against 
Defendants including Shenzhen Senior Technology Material Co. Ltd. (US) Research 
Institute (Senior-California), Farasis, and others (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 NDCA Third 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), and Celgard's United States Patent No. 6,692,867 (the '867 patent). 

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=2947925-1&h=4017988785&u=https%3A%2F%2Fc212.net%2Fc%2Flink%2F%3Ft%3D0%26l%3Den%26o%3D2814943-1%26h%3D3407769144%26u%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.prnewswire.com%252Fnews-releases%252Fcelgard-successfully-sues-targray-on-infringement-of-celgards-ceramic-coated-battery-separator-patent-300914298.html%26a%3DSee%2BRelease&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=2947925-1&h=4229647883&u=https%3A%2F%2Fc212.net%2Fc%2Flink%2F%3Ft%3D0%26l%3Den%26o%3D2814943-1%26h%3D2166979077%26u%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.prnewswire.com%252Fnews-releases%252Fcelgard-successfully-sues-mti-corporation-on-mtis-infringement-of-celgards-ceramic-coated-battery-separator-patent-300859501.html%26a%3DSee%2BRelease&a=See+Release 
].

Celgard intends to fully pursue its trade secret case against Senior in the UK 
and in the US. The UK Court of Appeal win, the UK High Court interim 
injunction, and the successful outcome of the Targray and MTI cases further 
solidify the integrity of Celgard's intellectual property (IP) regarding trade 
secrets and 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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