General Electric Co. was hit with an antitrust lawsuit on Thursday as Japan’s Mitsubishi accused the firm of monopolizing a portion of the wind-turbine market and using “baseless” tactics to gain a competitive edge.
Mitsubishi Power Systems Americans, Inc. filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court in Arkansas against GE, accusing it of attempting to monopolize the variable speed wind-turbine market.
In a court filing on Thursday, Mitsubishi said that since it entered the U.S. market, GE used anticompetitive means to drive the company out of the market, jeopardizing Mitsubishi’s new $100 million wind-turbine factory in Arkansas.
“GE’s patent infringement lawsuit deterred customers from purchasing variable speed wind turbines from Mitsubishi,” said Mitsubishi spokeswoman Sonia Williams in a statement.
“Our lawsuit documents how GE representatives intimidated Mitsubishi customers by advising them to either purchase license agreements from GE or face infringement risk.”