Press Release 14th December 2009

PEIKKO LOSES ONLY PARTLY A PATENT CASE IN THE HELSINKI DISTRICT COURT OVER ANSTAR

PEIKKO TO COMPENSATE ANSTAR 152 TEUR, NOT THE ORIGINAL, NEARLY 4 MILLION EURO DEMANDED

Peikko Group Oy has lost partly a recent court case in the Helsinki District Court in a patent dispute that it was drawn into by a rival company Anstar Oy. The patent dispute was linked to Peikko’s PC-Corbel product range which was launched onto the market during 2002. The dispute started in 2003 when Anstar Oy sued Peikko and claimed that Peikko was infringing its patent. It was concluded in the legal proceedings during 2003-2008 that Anstar’s patent was valid. The recent case concerned the question of whether Peikko Group Oy infringed the patent and if so, would Peikko be liable to pay compensation for damages. The Finnish patent in question originating in 1989 was in force until February 2009 and thus the case had no commercial implication for customers.

In its judgement dated 11th December 2009 the Helsinki District Court decided that Peikko Group Oy is liable to compensate Anstar Oy EUR 152.000 for the case. Both parties are to pay their own legal costs themselves. The original claim from Anstar Oy for patent infringement was nearly EUR 4 million.

“Peikko will not use its right to appeal to the Court of Appeal. Peikko hopes that the recent legal proceedings will put an end to this very unnecessary, lengthy and in parts even absurd patent dispute over corbels. We had tried multiple times to solve this issue outside courts without any result and wasted numerous months of work. We sincerely hope that this case is now over and we can focus on normal business”, states Topi Paananen, Chairman of Peikko Group.

Further information:

Topi Paananen, Chairman, Peikko Group Corporation, Tel. + 358 50 384 3001

VERDICT FROM THE HELSINKI DISTRICT COURT IN PDF-FORMAT, IN FINNISH (83 PAGES, 673 KB)

Peikko is a Finnish family-owned company specializing in composite beams and fastening products for concrete connections. Peikko Group Corporation has subsidiaries in Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. The production facilities of Peikko Group are located in Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, Slovakia, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Peikko Group’s consolidated sales in 2008 were EUR 115 million and Peikko employs more than 700 people. Further information: www.peikko.com