Amtec settles with Sun

Dealer pays vendor £450,000 to finally end 12-month grey market spat

Sunhas ended its year-long grey market legal action against trader Amtec Computer Corporation Ltd with a £450,000 settlement.

Last January Sun obtained an order of the High Court alleging that Amtec had unlawfully traded in Sun products in the European Economic Area (EEA) without Sun’s consent.

Amtec’s payment is made up of compensation to Sun for profits made selling unlawfully imported Sun products, plus a substantial amount of Sun’s legal costs.

Charlotte Selby, partner and alliances sales director at Sun said: “The “grey market” is a tempting way to make a saving on new technology, but it is definitely not worth the risk. The perils of the grey market should be well known by now to any business looking to deal in product from an unauthorised source.”

She said grey market trading can look attractive to VARs from the outset, but becomes problematic.

“However, grey market products can present resellers and customers with a host of headaches that go far beyond the cost savings of the initial investment,” she said We have a duty, like any other vendor, to enforce our channel model and our trade mark rights. We provide our customers the best service possible and they receive full warranty, service support and legitimate software licenses.”