ECT Proceedings Sample Clauses

ECT Proceedings. In January 2011, the postal service of Brazil, Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos (“ECT”), notified an HP Inc. subsidiary in Brazil (“HP Inc. Brazil”) that it had initiated administrative proceedings to consider whether to suspend HP Inc. Brazil’s right to bid and contract with ECT related to alleged improprieties in the bidding and contracting processes whereby employees of HP Inc. Brazil and employees of several other companies allegedly coordinated their bids and fixed results for three ECT contracts in 2007 and 2008. In late July 2011, ECT notified HP Inc. Brazil it had decided to apply the penalties against HP Inc. Brazil and suspend HP Inc. Brazil’s right to bid and contract with ECT for five years, based upon the evidence before it. In August 2011, HP Inc. Brazil appealed ECT’s decision. In April 2013, ECT rejected HP Inc. Brazil’s appeal, and the administrative proceedings were closed with the penalties against HP Inc. Brazil remaining in place. In parallel, in September 2011, HP Inc. Brazil filed a civil action against ECT seeking to have ECT’s decision revoked. HP Inc. Brazil also requested an injunction suspending the application of the penalties until a final ruling on the merits of the case. The court of first instance has not issued a decision on the merits of the case, but it has denied HP Inc. Brazil’s request for injunctive relief. HP Inc. Brazil appealed the denial of its request for injunctive relief to the intermediate appellate court, which issued a preliminary ruling denying the request for injunctive relief but reducing the length of the sanctions from five to two years. HP Inc. Brazil appealed that decision and, in December 2011, obtained a ruling staying enforcement of ECT’s sanctions until a final ruling on the merits of the case. HP Inc. expects the decision to be issued in 2015 and any subsequent appeal on the merits to last several years. Abstrax Proceeding. On February 28, 2014, Abstrax, Inc. (“Abstrax”), a company with a principal place of business in Mesa, Arizona, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against HP Inc. Abstrax claimed to market software for sales operations and manufacturing operations for configurable products, including those in the custom shutter industry. The case was pending in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. Abstrax asserted one patent, U.S. Patent 6,240,328, which is directed generally to a method of generating assembly instructions. In its complaint, Ab...