As a Czech myself, it would not suprise me if the Czech company was playing funny games too. The Czechs are very good at that - the ex communists make the trickiest capitalists because they think all bets are off when it comes to acceptable corporate behaviour. Didn't they have an American owner?
Czech company, Slovak owned. As you suspect, the are past masters at playing funny games, which is precisely why the company no longer has an American owner.