Andre Yoskowitz
21 Nov 2011 14:48
Western Digital has been hit with an arbitration court ruling ordering the drive maker to pay rival Seagate $525 million.
The decision comes as all drive makers are reeling from heavy flooding in Thailand that has disrupted up to 40 percent of all hard drive production to the entire world.
Although the case will head to an appeals court soon, the original suit alleged "misuse" of confidential information, most notably trade secrets from a former Seagate executive.
WD responded to the decision:
We do not believe there is any basis in law or fact for the damage award of the arbitrator. We believe the company acted properly at all times and we will vigorously challenge the award.
This does not affect our ability to conduct our operations, to complete the recovery and recommencement of our Thailand operations or, subject to obtaining the required regulatory approvals, to consummate our planned acquisition of Hitachi GST.