Foxconn International Holdings, the world's largest contract manufacturer of mobile phones, must square off in court against BYD to defend claims that it conspired to cause harm to the mainland car and battery maker's business.
In a decision handed down yesterday at the Court of First Instance, Justice Louis Chan Kong-yiu said BYD's plea 'should be allowed to develop and be decided by the trial judge who would be able to hear all the evidence of the parties'.
The ruling marks the latest twist in the acrimonious and long-standing dispute between the two hi-tech companies, which have been in litigation, with suits and countersuits, in both Hong Kong and the mainland.
In October 2007, three Foxconn units - Shenzhen Futaihong Precision Industry, Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co and Foxconn Precision Component (Beijing) Co - jointly brought action in Hong Kong against BYD and its six subsidiaries for breach of mainland law against unfair competition.
That action followed a lawsuit filed in June that year by Foxconn against BYD in the Intermediate People's Court in Shenzhen, claiming BYD knowingly and intentionally procured confidential data from former employees.
BYD, whose handset-manufacturing business directly competes against Foxconn, had been unsuccessfully sued before by Sony and Sanyo for patent infringement.
'We have a strong conviction to protect our intellectual property and trade secrets as well as customers' confidential information,' Foxconn International chairman and chief executive Samuel Chin Wai-leung said at that time.