China's AT&M denies Hitachi Metals trade secrets theft

Nippon Koshuha Steel Co

21/09/2017 11:24

BEIJING, Sept 21 (Reuters) - A Chinese firm at the centre of 
allegations made by Hitachi Metals Ltd (HML)  5476.T  and its 
U.S. unit Metglas on Thursday vehemently denied that it had 
stolen trade secrets.  
    Advanced Technology & Materials Co Ltd (AT&M)  000969.SZ  
denied the alleged theft and said in a statement to the Shenzhen 
Stock Exchange that it reserved the right to take legal action 
to defend its interests in response to any "false allegations." 
    AT&M was one of five Chinese companies named in a filing to 
the U.S. International Trade Commission by HML and Metglas, 
which alleged the Chinese firms had inappropriately obtained 
trade secrets for making amorphous metals. The information was 
allegedly passed to the Chinese companies by two former HML 
employees.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1M134C. 
    AT&M said it mastered amorphous technology through more than 
40 years of "independent innovation, relentless research and a 
lot of investment." 
    The company said it had learned of the allegations from 
media reports and had not yet received formal notification of 
the charges. 
    The company, describing itself as a subsidiary of the China 
Iron and Steel Research Institute, which was in turn governed by 
the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission 
(Sasac), said it was "fully respectful of and does not infringe 
on the intellectual property rights of others." 
    The other four firms -- Beijing ZLJG Amorphous Technology 
Co, Qingdao Yunlu Energy Technology Co, AT&M International 
Trading and CISRI International Trading -- have yet to make a 
statement on the allegations.   
 
 (Reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri) 
 ((tom.daly@thomsonreuters.com;)) 
 
Keywords: AT&M HITACHI METALS/