CE Pro is reporting that on September 22, 2010, the night before the CEDIA Expo, Savant Systems filed a lawsuit against Crestron Electronics.
Savant is accusing Creston of breaking antitrust laws in order to keep Savant out of the marketplace. This was a surprising move, and done well after business hours in an almost blitzkrieg fashion. Savant makes some rather bold claims. They claim that Crestron is actually intimidating dealers.
Savant asserts that Crestron has been creating exclusionary agreements with dealers, keeping them from carrying Savant if they want to carry Crestron. An additional claim is that Crestron has been threatening dealers that express interest in carrying Savant products. This system would eliminate competition by Savant and allow Crestron to maintain a position that is a borderline monopoly of the market.
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Please read our other articles, including What Really Happened With the Closing of Sound by Singer and Why They Will Be Back Soon, Crestron Reacts to Apple's iPad By Opening Up More Local Distribution, and Savant Introduces Touch TV Models with HD Displays. You can also find the original CE Pro article by clicking here.
Savant goes on to say that Crestron has also launched a smear campaign, publishing knowingly untrue information about Savant.
Robert Madonna, CEO of Savant told CE Pro, "It is important that dealers have the right to buy whatever equipment they want to buy. We didn't due this lightly...we felt we had no other option at this point."
When reached for comment, Crestron's marketing vice president Randy Klein denied any knowledge of the lawsuit.