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LEGAL PROCEEDINGS | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2013
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS [Abstract] |
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS | 11. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS The Company is, from time to time, a party to litigation arising in the normal course of its business, including various claims of patent infringement. See the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 for the details of all of Bel's material pending lawsuits. Legal developments subsequent to the filing of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K are below. The Company is a defendant in a lawsuit captioned SynQor, Inc. v. Artesyn Technologies, Inc., et al. brought in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas in November 2007. The plaintiff alleged that eleven defendants, including Bel, infringed its patents covering certain power products. With respect to the Company, the plaintiff claimed that the Company infringed its patents related to unregulated bus converters and/or point-of-load (POL) converters used in intermediate bus architecture power supply systems. The case went to trial in December 2010 and a partial judgment was entered on December 29, 2010 based on the jury verdict. The jury found that certain products of the defendants directly and/or indirectly infringe the SynQor patents. The jury awarded damages of $8.1 million against the Company, which was recorded by the Company as a litigation charge in the consolidated statement of operations in the fourth quarter of 2010. On July 11, 2011, the Court awarded supplemental damages of $2.5 million against the Company. Of this amount, $1.9 million is covered through an indemnification agreement with one of Bel's customers and the remaining $0.6 million was recorded as an expense by the Company during the second quarter of 2011. During the third quarter of 2011, the Company recorded costs and interest associated with this lawsuit of $0.2 million. A final judgment in the case was entered on August 17, 2011. The Company was in the process of appealing the verdict and judgment and filed a notice of appeal with the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals on October 28, 2011. The Company was advised that the full amount of the damage award plus costs and interest would need to be posted as a supersedeas bond upon filing of the notice of appeal. In November 2011, the Company posted a $13.0 million supersedeas bond to the Court in the Eastern District of Texas while the case was on appeal to the Federal Circuit. The amount of the bond is reflected as restricted cash in the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheet at December 31, 2012 and March 31, 2013. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ("CAFC") heard oral argument in the SynQor case on October 2, 2012 and issued its opinion on March 13, 2013. In its opinion, the CAFC affirmed the district court's findings and judgment on all issues up on appeal. The Company and the other Defendants jointly filed a Petition for Rehearing En Banc with the CAFC on April 12, 2013. In a related matter, on September 29, 2011, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ordered SynQor, Inc.'s continuing causes of action for post-injunction damages to be severed from the original action and assigned to a new case number. The new action captioned SynQor, Inc. v. Artesyn Technologies, Inc., et al. (Case Number 2:11cv444) is a patent infringement action for damages in the form of lost profits and reasonable royalties for the period beginning January 24, 2011. SynQor, Inc. also seeks enhanced damages. The Company has an indemnification agreement in place with one of its customers specifically covering post-injunction damages related to this case. As a result, the Company does not anticipate that its consolidated statement of operations will be materially impacted by any potential post-injunction damages. The Company is a plaintiff in a lawsuit captioned Bel Fuse Inc. et al. v. Molex Inc. brought in the United District Court of New Jersey in April 2013. The Company claims that Molex infringed three of the Company's patents related to integrated magnetic connector products. The Company, through its subsidiary Cinch Connectors Inc., is a defendant in an asbestos lawsuit captioned Richard G. Becker vs. Adience Inc., et al. The lawsuit was filed in the Circuit Court for the County of Wayne in the State of Michigan. The complaint was amended to include Cinch Connectors Inc. and other defendants on August 13, 2012. The Company filed its answer to the complaint on October 19, 2012.

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