PEKING (dpa-AFX) - American Superconductor Corp. (AMSC) Monday said a Provincial Court in China had ruled that its complaint against Sinovel would be governed by the Beijing Arbitration Commission. AMSC president and chief executive officer Daniel McGahn, said,' We are starting to see motion from the Chinese courts, and proceedings are getting underway as expected. The Hainan court's dismissal of our smallest case is not altogether unexpected, and we are appealing the ruling. We continue to have confidence in all of our cases and expect that our legal actions will yield a positive outcome.' Devens, Massachusetts-headquartered AMSC has filed for arbitration and has filed three civil lawsuits in the Chinese courts against Sinovel Wind Group Co., Ltd. (Sinovel) and companies related to Sinovel. In total, AMSC is seeking to recover more than $1.2 billion for contracted shipments and damages from Sinovel in these cases. AMSC alleges contractual breaches in March 2011 and intellectual property theft by Sinovel employees in June 2011. AMSC said the smallest of the civil cases was the copyright infringement complaint filed with the Hainan Province Number 1 Intermediate People's Court case against Sinovel and Dalian Guotong Electric Co., Ltd. (Guotong), a company related to Sinovel. AMSC said it had compiled and presented to the Hainan court evidence demonstrating that its copyrighted software is being infringed by Sinovel and Guotong. AMSC is seeking a cease and desist order and damages totaling approximately $200,000 in this case. In December 2011, Sinovel filed a jurisdiction opposition motion requesting dismissal by the Hainan Province No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, saying the case should be governed by the Beijing Arbitration Commission. AMSC reported today that on February 3, 2012, it had received the Civil Ruling from the court, which granted Sinovel's motion and dismissed the entire case. AMSC is currently trading at $5.50, down $0.28 or 4.84%, on the Nasdaq. Over the past year, the stock traded in a range of $3.21 - $29.10.
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