rotornut
21st Sep 2004, 11:01
Financial Times
FT.COM
Boeing goes on the offensive against Lockheed
By Caroline Daniel in Chicago
Published: September 21 2004 00:14 | Last updated: September 21 2004 00:14
Boeing has gone on the offensive in its ongoing legal battle with Lockheed Martin by accusing the aerospace company of seeking to "inflict reputational and competitive harm against Boeing", by making false statements about a controversial satellite launch contract it lost in 1998.
At the centre of the legal dispute are claims that Boeing misused thousands of pages of proprietary Lockheed information to win a satellite launch contract from the US Air Force.
Concerns about the misuse led the Air Force to remove $1bn in contracts from Boeing and to suspend its satellite operations from bidding on new contracts until it showed it had dealt with the ethics problems.
In the wake of the allegations, Lockheed launched a civil suit in June 2003, seeking unspecified damages. On August 24, in a court filing in Los Angeles, Boeing hit back with a countersuit.
It accuses Lockheed of dragging in "irrelevant allegations of purported Boeing misconduct", to widen the suit beyond the facts surrounding the two individuals directly accused in the satellite case.
In a heavily redacted court filing, Boeing argues that Lockheed has been "flagrantly opportunistic, they have also been unlawful" in embarking on a "full-scale smear campaign" by giving the impression that Lockheed would have won the satellite contract.
Boeing cites what it says are examples of Lockheed's own misconduct, such as the "raiding of key managers with intimate knowledge of critical competitor pricing information; and multiple instances of fines, penalties and settlements paid for allegations of Lockheed misconduct."
This, it says, "reveals that the image that Lockheed has tried to paint of Boeing as a rogue actor in the aerospace industry would more accurately be cast as a self-portrait."
Boeing calls for damages equivalent to three times the actual damages it has already suffered, the profits Lockheed has gained and the legal costs of the case.
Although Boeing's satellite division remains suspended, Peter Teets, under-secretary of the Air Force, has on a number of occasions suggested that the suspension was about to be lifted.
Lockheed said it filed a response to Boeing's countersuit on September 13. A spokesman said: "It is difficult for us to understand how Boeing could assert that it was improper for us to inform the government that Boeing stole and then used our proprietary information and trade secrets in the [satellite] competition."
He continued: "After we raised concerns, Boeing misled both us and the Air Force about the true nature of Boeing's misconduct.
"We believe the three criminal indictments arising from this matter, and the Air Force decision - after its own investigation - to re-allocate from Boeing [the $1bn in contracts] ... speak for themselves."
FT.COM
Boeing goes on the offensive against Lockheed
By Caroline Daniel in Chicago
Published: September 21 2004 00:14 | Last updated: September 21 2004 00:14
Boeing has gone on the offensive in its ongoing legal battle with Lockheed Martin by accusing the aerospace company of seeking to "inflict reputational and competitive harm against Boeing", by making false statements about a controversial satellite launch contract it lost in 1998.
At the centre of the legal dispute are claims that Boeing misused thousands of pages of proprietary Lockheed information to win a satellite launch contract from the US Air Force.
Concerns about the misuse led the Air Force to remove $1bn in contracts from Boeing and to suspend its satellite operations from bidding on new contracts until it showed it had dealt with the ethics problems.
In the wake of the allegations, Lockheed launched a civil suit in June 2003, seeking unspecified damages. On August 24, in a court filing in Los Angeles, Boeing hit back with a countersuit.
It accuses Lockheed of dragging in "irrelevant allegations of purported Boeing misconduct", to widen the suit beyond the facts surrounding the two individuals directly accused in the satellite case.
In a heavily redacted court filing, Boeing argues that Lockheed has been "flagrantly opportunistic, they have also been unlawful" in embarking on a "full-scale smear campaign" by giving the impression that Lockheed would have won the satellite contract.
Boeing cites what it says are examples of Lockheed's own misconduct, such as the "raiding of key managers with intimate knowledge of critical competitor pricing information; and multiple instances of fines, penalties and settlements paid for allegations of Lockheed misconduct."
This, it says, "reveals that the image that Lockheed has tried to paint of Boeing as a rogue actor in the aerospace industry would more accurately be cast as a self-portrait."
Boeing calls for damages equivalent to three times the actual damages it has already suffered, the profits Lockheed has gained and the legal costs of the case.
Although Boeing's satellite division remains suspended, Peter Teets, under-secretary of the Air Force, has on a number of occasions suggested that the suspension was about to be lifted.
Lockheed said it filed a response to Boeing's countersuit on September 13. A spokesman said: "It is difficult for us to understand how Boeing could assert that it was improper for us to inform the government that Boeing stole and then used our proprietary information and trade secrets in the [satellite] competition."
He continued: "After we raised concerns, Boeing misled both us and the Air Force about the true nature of Boeing's misconduct.
"We believe the three criminal indictments arising from this matter, and the Air Force decision - after its own investigation - to re-allocate from Boeing [the $1bn in contracts] ... speak for themselves."