Ayr Energy Files U.S. ITC Complaint and Claims for USD 1 Billion Against Zetwerk Over Alleged Trade Secret Theft

Ayr Energy, Inc., a U.S.-based first mover in the rapid delivery of custom power transformers, today announced legal action to hold Zetwerk Manufacturing Businesses Private Limited (India) and its affiliates Zetwerk Manufacturing USA Inc., Unimacts Global, LLC (a subsidiary of Zetwerk), and KRYFS Power Components Ltd. accountable for what Ayr’s filings describe as a deliberate scheme of theft and associated false advertising.

According to the filings made in the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and the Texas Business Court, Zetwerk dispatched an operative, who obtained a position at Ayr under false pretences, accessed without authority Ayr’s confidential information.  The operative allegedly departed after only six weeks of employment. He resurfaced at Zetwerk as head of a new transformer delivery business. Soon after, the filings allege, Zetwerk began marketing custom transformer capabilities it had never previously possessed and implemented online advertising that traded on the AYR ENERGY name itself.

The filings allege, among other things: trade secret misappropriation; false and misleading advertising; wilful trademark infringement; knowing participation in breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, civil conspiracy, civil theft, conversion, and unfair competition.

The ITC complaint asks the Commission to institute an investigation and issue a limited exclusion order barring the accused transformers from entry into the United States, together with cease-and-desist orders halting their marketing, sale, and distribution. The Texas counterclaims seek monetary damages of no less than $1 billion, exemplary damages, disgorgement, corrective advertising, and injunctive relief.

Copies of the public versions of the Texas filings are available here, and the ITC filings are available here.