U.S. court dismisses Westinghouse's lawsuit against KHNP

The fourth and last unit of the Barakah nuclear reactor in the United Arab Emirates built by Korean companies [KOREA ELECTRIC POWER CORPORATION]

 
The U.S. Federal District Court of Washington D.C. dismissed Westinghouse’s case filed against the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), Monday.
 
Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse filed a lawsuit against KHNP for intellectual property infringement in October last year. It claims that KHNP needs U.S. government consent to sell APR1400 nuclear plants overseas because the plant is created based on Westinghouse technology.
 
However, the court ruled that Westinghouse lacked standing to sue, as the authority to enforce the export restriction had been delegated exclusively to the U.S. attorney general and therefore a private entity that is not the U.S. government does not hold the legal authority to assert the rights.
 
KHNP also argued that while it did receive assistance from Westinghouse in the early stages of APR1400 development, the core technology is domestically developed and free from U.S. export restrictions.
 
However, as the court dismissed the case over lack of standing to sue, the issue of intellectual property infringement has not been addressed.
 

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]