By Kari Williamson

AMSC filed for arbitration and three civil lawsuits in the Chinese courts against Sinovel Wind Group Co Ltd and companies related to Sinovel in 2011, where its seeks to recover more than US$1.2 billion for contracted shipments and damages from Sinovel over contractual breaches in March 2011 and the discovery of alleged intellectual property theft by Sinovel employees in June 2011.

The smallest of the civil cases is a copyright infringement complaint filed with the Hainan Province Number 1 Intermediate People's Court case against Sinovel and Dalian Guotong Electric Co Ltd.

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. On 3 February, AMSC received the Civil Ruling from the court, which granted Sinovel's motion and dismissed the entire case.

"We are starting to see motion from the Chinese courts, and proceedings are getting underway as expected," says AMSC President and CEO Daniel P. McGahn.

"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."