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Supreme Court of Norway Denies Scanmar Appeal

Maritime Activity Reports, Inc.

June 23, 2011

Marport Deep Sea Technologies Inc., a developer of advanced sonar technology for commercial and military applications, announced that the Supreme Court of Norway has denied Scanmar’s appeal in their lawsuit against Marport.

The litigation between Scanmar AS, Scantrawl AS and Henning Skjold-Larsen on one side (“Scanmar”) and Marport Canada Inc, Marport Iceland Ehf and Pronav AS on the other (“Marport”) has finally come to an end. The Supreme Court of Norway concluded that the case contains neither principal matters of importance nor any other circumstances which required an appeal to be heard.

The litigation began as a patent infringement case, in which Henning Skjold-Larsen, the founder and Chairman of Scanmar, claimed that Marport's catch control system and sensors were infringing two of his
patents. Marport claimed the same patents to be invalid.

The case was later extended to encompass Scanmar’s claim for compensation based on an alleged infringement of the Norwegian Marketing Act. Scanmar claimed that Marport’s marketing contained information which represented an infringement of the Norwegian Marketing Act, Section 26, according to which it is "prohibited in the course of trade to use an incorrect or otherwise misleading representation which is likely to influence the demand for or supply of goods, services or other products". In addition, Scanmar claimed that Marport’s marketing was infringing Norwegian Marketing Act Section 25, which contains a prohibition of all act "performed in the course of trade which conflicts with good business practice among traders".

The Oslo District Court invalidated Scanmar’s Norwegian patent NO 326 638 (the ‘638 patent) and Scanmar’s Norwegian patent NO 325 356 (the ‘356 patent). The Court also rejected Scanmar’s claims under the
Norwegian Marketing Act. The Court ordered that Scanmar pay all Marport legal expenses of 3,484,105 NOK (about $634,600) and court costs.

Scanmar then appealed the Oslo District Court's decision to the Court of Appeals regarding the alleged infringement of the Norwegian Marketing Act, claiming that Marport's product marketing information was
misleading. While the Court of Appeals found some minor irregularities in Marport’s marketing material, they ruled that, except for battery life comparison, (Marport compared lithium-ion batteries versus nickel cadmium batteries), the information was not likely to influence the demand for either Marport or Scanmar products. The Court of Appeals also found that there was no connection between the infringement of the Marketing Act and
Scanmar’s declining income. Consequently, the Court of Appeals determined that there was no legal basis for Scanmar’s claim for compensation.

Scanmar then appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of Norway, Norway's highest court, which serves as the court of final appeal for civilian and criminal cases. With the recent Supreme Court decision, all
Scanmar appeals have been exhausted and the matter is now closed.

Source: Marport Press Release

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