SINGAPORE - A record US$2.8 billion awarded by a California court some 17 years ago led to legal action worldwide, including in Singapore, to recover the funds, and the case has finally come to a close.
The plaintiff, Hong Kong-based New World TMT, announced on Dec 16 it had resolved all claims against the defendant, PrediWave Corporation, and its founder, Mr Tony Qu Qianping.
Then described by the Boston-based Analysis Group as one of the largest legal victories for a Chinese company in an American court, the 2004 case against PrediWave, a Silicon Valley technology provider, drew keen interest.
Responding to The Straits Times, which tracked the related case in the Singapore High Court in 2015, law firm Rajah & Tann forwarded a press release from its client, New World, last week that said the terms of the settlement were confidential.
New World, a privately owned Cayman Islands company, said that following the settlement agreement, it is dismissing all litigation matters worldwide related to the judgment. It added that it is further “releasing any defendant named in any related or ancillary proceedings from any and all claims, and requesting the termination of all bankruptcy proceedings against those individuals”.
New World had sued Mr Qu and PrediWave in California in 2004 for alleged contractual violations in relation to its investment in PrediWave and its purchases of PrediWave’s technology four years earlier. New World is part of a Hong Kong conglomerate investing in media and technology industries, including in mainland China.
After New World’s investment in PrediWave, system prototypes produced by the company for testing in China failed, were not compatible with existing television infrastructure and did not meet commercial standards in China.
In 2006, the Santa Clara Superior Court awarded New World US$2.82 billion in damages. The sum included US$2 billion in “punitive” damages – that is, damages intended to punish the defendant, over and above actual losses.
In April 2015, the Singapore High Court granted a temporary freeze on the assets of some of the family members involved who were based here. By then, the sum payable was claimed to have mushroomed to about US$4.1 billion, including a large amount of interest.
New World had recovered US$331.4 million as at 2014, which included the seizure and sale of some assets owned by Mr Qu and other corporate debtors of the United States judgment, according to documents filed in the Singapore High Court at the time.
