The Norwegian daily Dagens Næringsliv (DN) and other media have published articles about the activities of the Danish-registered company Johnsen Oil AS. Some of the articles contain information on what they describe as a forged report from the SINTEF research institute MARINTEK regarding verification of a filter technology. On its web-site and in other publications, Johnsen Oil claims that the company’s technology has been tested by SINTEF.
DN’s journalists have recently drawn our attention to these claims, and we have looked closely into the situation. Our investigations enable us to confirm that the putative report and cover letter from MARINTEK have been forged.
SINTEF has searched its own client and publication databases, and our searches make it clear that neither MARINTEK nor any other SINTEF institute have ever performed research contracts or tests for Johnsen Oil. The information that appears on the company’s web-site regarding a technical evaluation by SINTEF is misleading.We regard this situation as serious, in that it involves serious misuse of SINTEF’s and MARINTEK’s names and positions.
On behalf of SINTEF and MARINTEK, the law firm Arntzen de Besche has taken the following steps:
• The document forgery has been reported to the police.
• A written demand has been sent to Johnsen Oil, to the effect that the company immediately remove all references to SINTEF from its web-site and from all other information material.
In 2007, MARINTEK reported a similar case of document forgery concerning the same filter technology. However, Sør-Trøndelag Police District decided not to institute legal proceedings in 2008.
