Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. (NSSMC) has announced that it has reached a settlement with South Korea-based steel producer POSCO regarding three lawsuits that were pending between NSSMC and POSCO.
On April 19, 2012, NSSMC filed civil lawsuits at Tokyo District Court against POSCO and its Japanese subsidiary POSCO Japan Co., claiming that POSCO illicitly acquired and used NSSMC's trade secrets regarding grain-oriented electrical steel sheet technology.
NSSMC stated that it endeavored to prove its claims in these lawsuits by submitting a large amount of evidence. However, the company concluded that, while it could achieve its intended purposes to a certain extent, it has decided to agree to a settlement, taking also into account other factors including the progress and state of the lawsuits.
The conditions for settlement included, among other things, POSCO’s payment of settlement money of JPY 30 billion ($249.46 million) to NSSMC, and the withdrawal of the three pending lawsuits between NSSMC and POSCO, POSCO Japan, and POSCO America. As of today, September 30, NSSMC has received the settlement money, and the three lawsuits have all been withdrawn. Moreover, the companies have renewed their strategic alliance agreement for three years up to August 1, 2018.