Tonnex International in Liquidation

According to CRN, Australia-based computer and printer consumables sub-distributor Tonnex has gone into liquidation after 16 years in business. Tonnex called in the liquidators after the Federal Court ordered it to pay $150,000 damages to rival Dynamic Supplies.

The sub-distributor ran into trouble after it lost a half-decade legal battle against Dynamic Supplies. In the latest judgment handed down by the Federal Court, Tonnex was ordered to pay $150,000 for copyright infringement.

Dynamic Supplies’ Managing Director Scott McLennan told CRN that originally there were four issues that Dynamic Supplies took Tonnex to court for: three for breaches of the Trade Practices Act, and one for a copyright breach. Tonnex only appealed on the copyright matter. The issue concerned a “compatibility chart” that Dynamic Supplies created with its own data, which was claimed to be similar to one that Tonnex published later.

Tonnex submitted a notification of resolution to voluntarily wind-up the company right after the court decision.

It’s suspected that Tonnex may owe “a couple of million dollars” to trade suppliers. Tonnex’s vendors include all the major print brands: Brother, Canon, Epson, Fuji Xerox, HP, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lexmark, OKI, Panasonic, Ricoh-Lanier, Samsung and Sharp. It is understood that distributors to Tonnex also face massive fallouts.

CRN said, Dynamic Supplies is interested in talking to the liquidator about buying Tonnex’s assets.

(Source: CRN)