Shares of American Superconductor Corp. plunged 33 percent Friday after the Devens company said its $6 million copyright infringement case was dismissed by a Chinese court and a hearing on its $450 million trade secret case was scheduled on or about May 11.
American Superconductor, which makes software used to manage energy grids, brought suit against its former Chinese customer, Sinovel Wind Group Ltd., in 2011. The suits claimed that Sinovel breached its contract with American Superconductor and allegedly stole its technology.
Sinovel has repeatedly denied that it engaged in intellectual property theft.
The company said it would immediately appeal the dismissal to the Beijing Higher People’s Court. Previously, it had appealed the case up to China’s Supreme People’s Court on jurisdictional issues, and prevailed.
Advertisement
“This ruling by the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court is not unexpected,” said company president Daniel P. McGinn in a statement. “Given the importance of protecting the intellectual property of US companies, we look forward to continuing to work with the US government to protect our interests.”
In midafternoon trading, American Superconductor shares were trading at $6.66, down $3.34, or 33 percent.
Bennie DiNardo can be reached at bennie.dinardo@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @bdinardo.