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COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2015
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES [Abstract] |
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES | 12. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Legal Proceedings The Company is party to a number of legal actions and claims, none of which individually or in the aggregate, in the opinion of management, are expected to have a material adverse effect on the Company's consolidated results of operations or financial position. See the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 for the details of all of Bel's material pending lawsuits. The Company was 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 ("SynQor I case"). 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 initially went to trial in December 2010. A decision was ultimately rendered in November 2013 in favor of the plaintiff, and the Company released a payment to SynQor of $10.9 million. The Company subsequently received a $2.1 million payment from one of its customers related to an indemnification agreement and reimbursement of certain legal fees. 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-verdict 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 II case"). SynQor, Inc. also seeks enhanced damages. The Company has an indemnification agreement in place with one of its customers specifically covering post-verdict damages related to this case. This case went to trial on July 30, 2013. In April 2014, a final judgment was rendered in this case, whereby the Company was assessed an additional $0.7 million in post-verdict damages. This amount was paid by the Company in July 2014 and was subsequently reimbursed by one of its customers under the terms of the indemnification agreement referenced above. SynQor filed an appeal of the final judgment in May 2014, which is currently pending with the CAFC. The CAFC heard oral arguments from the parties on this matter on March 2, 2015. The Court has yet to render its decision on this case. 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. Molex filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on August 6, 2013. The Company filed an amended complaint and response on August 20, 2013. Molex withdrew its original Motion to Dismiss and filed a second, revised Motion to Dismiss on September 6, 2013. The Company filed its response on October 7, 2013. The Court denied Molex's revised Motion to Dismiss on June 16, 2014. In June 2014, Molex initiated an Inter Partes Review (IPR) at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for one of the three patents associated with this case. The Company and Molex executed an agreement in September 2014 to terminate the IPR and to withdraw one of the patents from the district court litigation. The Parties settled the case involving the two remaining patents for $0.5 million in September 2015 and the case was subsequently dismissed by the Court in October 2015. The Company recognized the settlement amount in net sales on the condensed consolidated statements of operations. In connection with the acquisition of Power Solutions, there is an ongoing claim by the Arezzo Revenue Agency in Italy concerning certain tax matters related to what was then Power-One Asia Pacific Electronics Shenzhen Co. Ltd. (now Bel Power Solutions Asia Pacific Electronics Shenzhen Co. Ltd, or "BPS China") for the years 2004 to 2006. In September 2012, the Tax Court of Arezzo ruled in favor of BPS China and cancelled the claim. In February 2013, the Arezzo Revenue Agency filed an appeal of the Tax Court's ruling. The hearing of the appeal was held on October 2, 2014. On October 13, 2014, BPS China was informed of the Regional Tax Commission of Florence ruling which was in favor of the Arezzo Revenue Agency and against BPS China. The estimated liability related to this matter is approximately $12.0 million and has been included as a liability for uncertain tax positions on the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheet. As Bel is fully indemnified in this matter per the terms of the stock purchase agreement with ABB, a corresponding other asset for indemnification is also included in other assets on the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets at September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014. The Company, through its subsidiary Cinch Connectors Inc., is a defendant in an asbestos lawsuit captioned Richard Skrzypek 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 November 13, 2014. The Company filed its answer to the complaint on January 23, 2015. The Parties reached a settlement for an immaterial amount in November 2015. The Company is not a party to any other legal proceeding, the adverse outcome of which is likely to have a material adverse effect on the Company's condensed consolidated financial condition or results of operations.

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