ClearOne Granted Amended Permanent Injunction Order in Federal Trade Secret
Misappropriation Case; Contempt Order Issued Against DialHD, Inc., Wideband
Solutions, Inc., and Others
SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- (Nasdaq: CLRO) An Amended
Permanent Injunction was issued by the federal court on November 19, 2009, in
favor of ClearOne, expanding the scope of an earlier entered permanent
injunction to apply to, among others, the products of DialHD, Inc., a Georgia
corporation ("DialHD"), including the products identified as the AEC4, the
Mix-4 or Automixer, the HD4551, and the Longoo ACON1001.
The Amended Permanent Injunction was issued by the Utah federal court which
presided over a trial before a jury in October and November 2008, in the case
related to the contempt of certain defendants in the action, and other
interested parties. The case was originally initiated by ClearOne against
Biamp Systems Corporation ("Biamp") and a group of defendants collectively
termed as the "WideBand Defendants," consisting of WideBand Solutions, Inc.
("WideBand"), Versatile DSP, Inc., and three of WideBand's principals - Dr.
Jun Yang, who was a former ClearOne employee; Andrew Chiang, who was
previously affiliated with an entity that sold certain assets to ClearOne; and
Lonny Bowers. On November 5, 2008, the jury returned a verdict in favor of
ClearOne.
In April 2009, the Court entered a final judgment against the defendants for
approximately $9.7 million, and issued a permanent injunction prohibiting
WideBand, its principals, and others acting in concert with WideBand, from
(among other things) the use, marketing, or sale of ClearOne's trade secrets
and WideBand's infringing products found to use these trade secrets. After
the permanent injunction was issued, ClearOne alleged that certain defendants,
and other interested parties, were working in concert with Lonny Bowers'
father, Donald Bowers, to circumvent the federal court's order, by
establishing a new company named DialHD, and continuing to sell products
containing ClearOne's trade secrets.
On November 19, 2009, in addition to expanding the scope of the Permanent
Injunction Order, the federal court also issued a Memorandum Decision and
Order of Contempt (the "Contempt Order"), finding that certain defendants in
the action, and other interested parties, continue to possess and use the
stolen ClearOne trade secrets, while steadfastly attempting to hide their
repeated violations of the court's orders. Specifically, the federal court
found Lonny Bowers, Dr. Jun Yang, WideBand, and third-party collaborator
DialHD (collectively, the "Contemnors") in contempt of court for violating the
court's April 2009 permanent injunction and August 2009 temporary restraining
order. In the Contempt Order, the federal court placed certain requirements
on the Contemnors, including (among other things) that DialHD, and those
working in active concert or participation with DialHD, shall immediately halt
all development, sale, and/or marketing of all DialHD products, including in
China. The federal court also awarded ClearOne its reasonable attorneys' fees
and costs incurred in pursuing the Amended Permanent Injunction and Contempt
Order, to be charged against the Contemnors, jointly and severally.
The federal court has commanded the Contemnors to take certain remedial
actions to purge their contempt, and has ordered them to appear at a hearing
on January 8, 2010, at which time certain of the Contemnors may be
incarcerated if the federal court is not satisfied that their contempt has
been purged.
At trial and throughout the Intellectual Property Case, ClearOne was
represented by the Utah law firm of Magleby & Greenwood, P.C.
About ClearOne
ClearOne is a communications solutions company that develops and sells audio
conferencing systems and other related products for audio, video, and web
conferencing applications. The reliability, flexibility, and performance of
ClearOne's comprehensive solutions create a natural communications
environment, which saves organizations time and money by enabling more
effective and efficient communication. For more information, visit ClearOne's
website at www.clearone.com.
http://www.b2i.us/irpass.asp?BzID=509&to=ea&s=0
Contact: ClearOne
Investor Relations
(801) 303-3555
SOURCE ClearOne
Investor Relations of ClearOne, +1-801-303-3555
