A Federal Appeals Court in San Francisco has overturned an earlier decision in favour of NEC Electronics and ruled that Cal-Abco Inc is perfectly entitled to import NEC chips in third countries – where prices are lower than those NEC wants to charge in the US – and resell the parts at prices that undercut NEC: the Japanese company had sued on the grounds that the parts infringed its copyright in the NEC name on them; Cal-Abco is countersuing NEC for trying to prevent it selling the chips, which account for 30% to 40% of its $50m a year business, and is seeking a punitive award of tripled damages.
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