To: The Ox who wrote (974 ) 6/7/2012 1:41:28 PM From: The Ox Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 8239 Ubiquiti Networks Files Lawsuit Accusing Miami-Based Group Of Counterfeiting see photosCourtesy of Robert Pera Click for full photo gallery: Robert Pera Ubiquiti Networks has seen its stock tumble 45% since mid-April in large part due to far-fetched rumors that originated on a Chinese message board in early May. Now, Ubiquiti and its CEO Robert Pera are fighting back. The company announced that it filed a lawsuit on May 18 alleging counterfeiting activity by at least one former distributor based out of Miami . Ubiquiti filed suit in the U.S. District Court for Northern California against Kozumi USA Corp., a previously terminated Ubiquiti distributor, its owner Shao Wei (William) Hsu and his spouse Lilia Kung. The complaint says Hsu engaged in intellectual property theft, manufacturing and sale of counterfeit Ubiquiti Networks products. In an email, Hsu said: ”Those accusations are clearly signs of intimidation against me my family. … None of the claims are true and we can prove all our sales and purchases are 100% legal. And we are extremely confident to be able to provide all the necessary evidences to the court to prove that all of this is just a desperate action from a big company trying to intimidate it’s [sic] competition.” Hsu also said by phone Monday morning: “I have never been convicted of any illegal crimes. I do not have a factory in China. I do not own any single product or assets at all in China. Lilia Kung is in fact my ex-wife. We will countersue Ubiquiti for sure.” Pera emerged on Forbes’ radar late last year after a successful IPO of his wireless networking gear company Ubiquiti Networks and landed in the billionaires’ list in March based on his 64% ownership of the company. When I met Pera at Ubiquiti’s San Jose offices in December, one of the more surprising stories he told me was about the former Ubiquiti distributor who stole the designs for the company’s gear and created a separate factory in China where he was producing counterfeit goods. Pera had spent several months in China working to land the ex-distributor in jail and was successful in his efforts. However, according to an internal Ubiquiti memo that Forbes saw early in May, the jailed distributor was freed sooner than expected (he allegedly paid his way out) and was back to his old counterfeiting tricks. When Pera sent Ubiquiti’s general counsel after this ex-distributor, his people threatened to disparage Pera’s reputation unless Ubiquiti let him continue counterfeiting. Pera refused, and soon thereafter a Chinese message board published an unfounded rumor tying Pera to unsavory business types in China. On May 2, as the rumors were reprinted in the U.S., Ubiquiti’s stock fell 17%. Ubiquiti issued a statement on May 3 denying the rumors and pledging to launch a worldwide campaign to protect its intellectual property rights. The announcement failed to keep the stock from falling further still. Ubiquiti stock fell 1.3% to $18.75 in early trading Monday morning. forbes.com