By Ian Sherr
Hewlett-Packard Co. says its technology wasn’t knowingly sold to Syria.
The Palo Alto, Calif., technology giant made that assertion to the Securities and Exchange Commission in response to a letter dated Sept. 6 and disclosed in a recent regulatory filing.
Last year, news reports surfaced saying H-P’s technology was being used as part of a surveillance program by the Syrian government.
In a letter dated Oct. 9 and signed by David Ritenour, an associate general counsel at H-P, the company said those reports weren’t wholly accurate. H-P said the company accused of selling its technology into Syria, called Area SpA, was required to comply with all applicable export laws, including those prohibiting selling H-P’s products into embargoed or sanctioned countries.
H-P said the products that Area was believed to have sold to Syria didn’t come from H-P but were procured from “an H-P partner that was not informed of the ultimate destination for those products.”
In the regulatory filing, H-P asked the SEC to keep a separate document confidential and protected from Freedom of Information Act requests because it contained sensitive information.
An H-P spokesman said “compliance with U.S. and international trade law is the highest priority for H-P.”
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