Invensys trio goes to court

By Chris Hutching

Friday 5th April 2002

An intellectual property dispute involving Christchurch-based Invensys Systems has its sequel in the Christchurch and Auckland district courts next week when James Barnes and two other unidentified defendants appear in pre-depositions hearings.

A civil court case was lodged in the High Court at Auckland last year by UK parent company Invensys Plc over alleged high-technology espionage regarding an electronics device called a rectifier, potentially worth millions of dollars.

Executives at the Christchurch office of Invensys (formerly Switchtec) have refused to comment but details from the civil case reveal a bizarre tale involving former Invensys New Zealand chief executive James Kennedy, financial controller Murray Simpson, human resources manager Peter Taylor, engineers Reuman Petkov and Gueorgui Anguelov and the business manager of Shanghai-based Switchtec, Rong Hua Huang.

Invensys Plc alleged Messrs Petkov and Anguelov began secretly working on a second-generation version of the Invensys rectifiers and then a Chinese contracting company was commissioned to make and distribute it. Mr Barnes was the key witness in that case.

The precise nature of the charges in the criminal case will be revealed next week.

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