US court orders Sterlite to pay huge sum in damages to American firm

A United States court has ordered Sterlite Technologies' foreign arm to pay ₹810 crore ($96.5 million) in damages to US-based Prysmian for violating trade secret norms. The order was filed with the regulatory exchanges and the Prysmian also issued a statement.

Further, a $2,00,000 penalty has also been levied on Stephen Szymanski, executive vice-president for Americas Region at Sterlite Technologies Incorporated (STI) for "misappropriation" of Prysmian's trade secrets, the report said. STI is the US subsidiary of Sterlite Technologies (STL).

Sterlite unjustly enriched 

Sterlite Tech has contested the judgement and may file an appeal against it, the report added. Sterlite Tech is backed by Anil Agarwal-led Indian conglomerate Vedanta Group.

A statement from Prysmian said a jury had ruled in favour of Prysmian on August 9 after a three-week-long trial in the district court of Columbia, South Carolina.

"The jury found that Sterlite was unjustly enriched by taking Prysmian's trade secrets and awarded $96.5 million in damages against STI. In addition, the jury found that Mr Szymanski had been unjustly enriched by misappropriating Prysmian's trade secrets," the release dated August 12 stated.

Prysmian further said that the court awarded $2,00,000 penalty against Mr Szymanski, personally.

"Mr Szymanski ran Prysmian's optical fibre cable business in North America, and departed Prysmian for Sterlite, a direct competitor, in August 2020," the statement said. Mr Szymanski joined STI in September 2020.

Sterlite to contest the order

In its regulatory filing on August 10, Sterlite Tech informed the BSE that it is "not a party to this dispute neither are any claims being made against it", adding, "STI believes the judgement is not supported by the testimony and evidence presented at trial and intends to vigorously pursue all available post-trial remedies including an appeal."

Sterlite Tech posted a consolidated loss of ₹48 crore and a decline of about 20 per cent in revenue from operations at ₹1,218 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2024.

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