Zhangjiagang, China (May 28, 2012) -- Sino Legend (Zhangjiagang) Chemical Co. Ltd, which makes resins for the tyre and rubber industries, has renewed its call for further market innovation to help fuel unfettered advancement among its manufacturing partners.
The call comes after SI Group, a manufacturer of chemical intermediates, filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission requesting an investigation into Sino Legend. SI Group seeks an order “excluding from entry into the United States all rubber resins, including tackifiers, manufactured using SI Group trade secrets,” according to a 21 May news release from SI Group.
Sino Legend responded, 23 May, by saying “anti-competitive trade actions” are harmful to the global tyre industry. The company says its growth has been fuelled by “world-class” production capabilities and unique technologies, derived from independent research conducted in China during the 1980s.
"However, some old-line competitors continue to mount campaigns to prevent such innovation from flourishing, preferring to pursue unfounded legal claims and trade sanctions versus competing on the merits of their products. Their actions are not only anti-competitive, but harmful to the very industry in which they're participating," claimed Corey Xie, deputy manager, Sino Legend.
"In the interest of championing fair, ethical business practices and the broader interests of the tyre and rubber industry, Sino Legend plans to work closely with the US International Trade Commission as it evaluates our Section 337 compliance,” he added.
The company said it will continue to actively defend its intellectual property, as it progresses with plans to enter the US and European markets this year. Sino Legend says that just four years after beginning production, it now holds 70 percent of the Chinese market and 30 percent share for the rest of Asia.
A opinion piece in the Economist in April suggested that legal battles like this one may even bring some clarity to the issue of intellectual property in China, where intellectual property has not been strongly protected in law.
