A Chinese company planning a $30 million plant in Georgia has won an appeal in federal court allowing it to resume selling a key product in the U.S.

In March 2009, the International Trade Commission determined that General Protecht Group Inc. infringed on two patents held by its New Jersey-based competitor, Pass & Seymour Inc.

Since then, General Protecht and two other Chinese companies have been barred from importing certain electrical parts called ground fault circuit interrupters into the U.S., pending the outcome of the appeal. These GFCIs, as they're called, are placed in wall outlets in kitchens and bathrooms to protect against sudden upsurges of electricity.

Based on a technical design detail, the Federal Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington on Aug. 27 found that the commission had erred in determining that General Protecht's components infringed Pass & Seymour's patents.

It's unclear whether this will pave the way for General Protecht to begin building its plant in Barnesville, Ga., which has been stalled since the company announced the project in 2007. At the time, the company pledged that the factory would create 240 jobs.

Leaders at the Barnesville-Lamar County Economic Development Authority haven't spoken with General Protecht about the court decision or received an update on when the company expects to begin work at its 211-acre site, said Missy Kendrick, the authority's executive director.

No clearing, grading or infrastructure work has been done on the site, which is between Macon and Atlanta. Only an entry road has been cut into the forested lot, Ms. Kendrick said.

She said some state incentives for the project have lapsed, and a local incentives package must be renegotiated when the company decides to begin construction.

Still, the authority is confident in General Protecht's ability to follow through.

“Our posture has never changed. We have full faith in General Protecht and their product and the way they do business in the United States, so it's not a surprise to us that they won the appeal,” Ms. Kendrick said.

The Georgia Department of Economic Development said last May that the state was offering General Protecht $5.25 million in job tax credits, $900,000 in sales tax exemptions and Quick Start training valued at $960,000. All of these are contingent on the plant being up and running.

Barnesville also received a $764,000 grant in 2007 from the OneGeorgia Authority to help with infrastructure work for the project.

State incentives and grants come with “clawbacks,” legal clauses that allow the state to recoup taxpayer money if the project fails.

No comment was immediately available from the state on whether General Protecht's incentives had lapsed.

General Protecht's U.S. leadership could not be reached for comment on the ruling.

The company has been peppered with lawsuits since entering the U.S. in 2004. After fending off an initial patent lawsuit by Leviton Manufacturing in 2007, General Protecht CEO Chen Wusheng became embroiled in an FBI investigation for allegedly gaining illicit pricing information that would've aided its bid to become a supplier for Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc.

In February, Mr. Chen was granted immunity in a case that ended with a former Home Depot manager being sentenced to four months in federal prison.

Atlanta law firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP represented General Protecht in the patent appeal.

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