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GE to be sued

JAPANESE firm Asahi Chemical Industry has announced that it will sue us-based firm General Electricals (GE) for violating its patent on the production of polycarbonate resin. The company said that it would file the claim against General Electricals Spanish unit, GE Plastics, early next year.

In May, Asahi Chemical filed a similar patent suit in Japan against GE. The latter responded by saying that it has already launched a lawsuit against its Japanese rival, claiming the patent on the manufacturing process is invalid. GE spokesperson Bruce Bunch said that the company had paid a license fee and received detailed information about the process from a third party which had used the technique to produce polycarbonate resin since 1987, more than two years before Asahi filed for patent protection.

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