Eltek ASA today announces legal action against Chinese telecoms equipment company ZTE on patent infringement of Eltek’s high efficiency technology. This is Eltek’s second recent legal move to protect its patented technology.

“To keep up with our ambition of maintaining technology leadership, we have to make significant investments in R&D and in protection of the intellectual property of our design and ideas. Our position as holders of the original HE (high efficiency) technology is very important to us and we are willing to go to great lengths to protect it,” says Morten Schøyen, chief marketing officer at Eltek.

Eltek has started a legal offensive against several companies on patent infringement and intellectual property rights. In November last year, Eltek announced that it is taking another Chinese company, East UPS, to court for illegally copying Eltek products.

Today’s legal action against ZTE is regarding infringement of a patented design element in Eltek’s HE technology.

When Eltek developed its high efficiency technology, which is utilized in power systems for telecom and other demanding industries, all key design elements were protected by patents. These have gone through an extensive application, approval and validation process. In parallel, the market has been carefully monitored for breaches of the company’s patents.

“We have been in a dialogue with ZTE on this issue for a few months, but they do not admit to any infringement of our patent. As a result we have to make the court decide. We have no doubt that we have a strong case and look forward to trying this in the Norwegian legal system,” says Schøyen.

About Eltek

Eltek is a strategic technology partner within power solutions. The Company reported revenues of NOK 3.6 billion in 2011, and has approximately 2,400 employees in close to 40 countries. Eltek focuses on the business in telecom power and power electronics solutions for industrial applications and renewable markets such as solar power and electric vehicles. Eltek is listed on The Oslo Stock Exchange and headquartered in Drammen, Norway.