Foxconn Tells Hong Kong Judge BYD's Claims Are Meritless

BusinessWeek is reporting that Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. urged a Hong Kong judge to throw out a lawsuit filed by BYD Co., China’s largest maker of rechargeable batteries, that accuses Foxconn of unlawful interference with its business, defamation and conspiracy to injure.

BYD’s claim should be struck because the company failed to provide any “material” facts or allegations to back its case, Winston Poon, Foxconn’s lawyer, said at a hearing today in the Court of First Instance in Hong Kong.

“Not only are the matters immaterial, they are also vexatious,” Poon said. “They will waste the court’s time and money.”

BYD, backed by billionaire Warren Buffett, countersued after a 2007 lawsuit filed by two Foxconn units that claimed BYD recruited Foxconn employees and stole Foxconn’s trade secrets. BYD doubled its revenue from the sale of mobile phones in each of 2005, 2006 and 2007 as a result, according to court documents.

“The Foxconn parties embarked upon a course of conduct of procuring and using false or fabricated evidence,” BYD said in its lawsuit. Foxconn’s “ultimate objective” was to damage the business relationship between BYD and its investors and customers, BYD said.

In 2008, BYD had failed to persuade a Hong Kong judge to throw out the Foxconn lawsuit and let the case be tried in Shenzhen, China, where BYD is based. Judge Thomas Au in Hong Kong ruled he wasn’t convinced Shenzhen was a preferable venue.

Liu Xiang Jun, former chief operating officer of one of the Foxconn units, joined BYD in 2005. He was convicted in Shenzhen of infringing Foxconn’s business secrets, according to court documents. Si Shao Qing and Zhang Jian, who had worked for the same unit, were also convicted of infringing Foxconn’s business secrets.