NationStates Jolt Archive

Shalcoria, International Press- The Shalrirorchian aeronautics corporation, Aerotech Industries Internationale (AII) filed a lawsuit this morning in Shalcoria Federal District Court against DMG Military Industries for intellectual theft.

AII contends that DMG's A-7 Wraith is a direct infringement on AII's similar line of ground-attack aircraft, the SF-4 and SF-5 Wraith multirole fighters.

"We understand that international aeronautics development has been proceeding along remarkably similar lines for the past decade." AII spokeswoman Melinda Kiel said at a press conference today. "But come on...an airplane that carries the same role AND the same name as the AII fighter which, we would like to add, has been in service for several years now! The two planes even look remarkably similar to each other. We look forward to hearing DMG's explanation in court."


Shalrirorchian government officials have allowed the lawsuit to proceed, but as of yet have offered no official comment. Sources inside the U.S.S. government say that the lawsuit complicates the work of a military panel that has recently been reviewing DMG products for use within the Shalrirorchian Defense Force.

A lawsuit? CEO Mar'ki Ticron looked down at the perfectly tri-folded set of papers that had been delivered to his office by secure international courier. Sure some people always tried to bring legal action against the company, but rarely did a foreign manufacturer actually attempt to take it to court. He read over the document briefly, "A lawsuit has been filed against DMG Military Industries in Shalcoria Federal District Court for patent infringement under 101.1 of the Revised Constitutional Code by Shalrirorchian aircraft manufacturer AII, which contends that DMI's A-7 Wraith is a direct infringement on AII's similar line of ground-attack aircraft, the SF-4 and SF-5 Wraith multirole fighters."

The trillionaire CEO looked distraught as he pressed two buttons on his communications suite. "Corin... Carl... are you there?" he asked.

"I'm here Mr. Ticron," Carl's deep voice replied over the phone. Carl Steelcaster had been the Chief Engineer for DMG Military Industries for the past seventeen years, continuing the tradition of excellence that Mar'ki had instilled.

"Yes, sir," Corin replied a moment later as he clearly finished chewing some food and swallowing it down. Corin Thaul was the Executive Vice-President, one of the highest ranking members of the corporation.

"Have you seen this?" Mar'ki asked, though clearly they had not. "We're being sued! By... by... by AeroTech Industries Internationale. Who in blazes are they?!"

"Sir," Corin Thaul replied off the cuff, "AeroTech is a Shalcorian based international corporation that specializes in military aeronautics and presumably civilian as well."

"Well, Carl?" Mar'ki asked, though Carl obviously didn't know what to respond to. "Did we do anything?"

"No, no... of course not," the deep voiced man replied. "I have no idea what they're talking about..."

-----

Within the day, a team of seven lawyers (who would coordinate with the entire legal department back in the Dominion) and five military experts had arrived via private jet in Shalcoria to answer the summons. Their answer to the media gathered to hear the lawsuit was brief and concise:
"This lawsuit against DMI is baseless and without truth. It is a blatant attack on the good and honorable
reputation of DMI due to competitive weakness of the accuser. Every point they have brought up, which
I may point out is quite limited, can and will be answered in the court of law.

OOC: Whoa! Shal's back! Great to see you again!

OOC: Wee, Shal!

While sitting in his office Terry Les Demones was looking over his files as he read over the news of some company filed a Lawsuit against his biggest competiter, DMI. The news was almost laughable. Terry decided it was time to give his rival a call.

" Mrs. Nell please place a call to Mr. Ticron's office please, let them know that Terry les Demones is calling." Terry called out over his intercom.

Mrs. Nell compiled and dialed up his number , then patched it into Terry's office phone....


Ring... Ring...

Mar'ki Ticron was, oddly enough, enjoying his day quite fine despite the news of his company being targeted by an international lawsuit. He reclined in his black leather chair wearing fuzzy slippers and watched the television that sat on the glass wall overlooking the city. The coverage was mostly about the impending lawsuit, but few were very troubled by it. Some analysts were debating the laws, others were talking about possible offenses, and yet still more were arguing that there was no legal jurisdiction or ability to file a lawsuit for a foreign corporation with no ties in the Dominion or with DMI having any ties in the foreign nation. Mar'ki simply watched and shrugged along with the talking heads.

None of it really bothered him. The A-7 wasn't exactly a best seller, the company was continuing to do splendid, and besides, he was still going to be worth over fifty trillion USDs regardless of how the case turned out. The good thing about the stock situation for DMI was that there were so few holders and so many who wished to buy, that the price would not be affected and most likely nobody was going to sell.

He calmly turned his head to the telephone as it beeped lightly. All in-house calls were currently going through the vice-presidential ranks and all media calls were being rerouted or denied. Whoever it was, his secretarial staff had deemed it worthy to go through to his private phone. Not even bothering to pick up the receiver, Mar'ki pressed the speakerphone button and leaned back.

"Hello?"

AII Headquarters
Shalcoria, Capital of the United States of Shalrirorchia

"Counselor, I don't pretend to understand legalities any more than you seem to understand aircraft design, so perhaps you can distill this into terms that a mere engineer can understand." Shakti said, wringing her hands.

AII's chief lawyer and legal counsel (Johnson) adjusted his glasses before leaning back in his seat. "According to Shalrirorchian law, you're placed into something of a disadvantage here, Shakti." he said. "Unless you can find a document in DMG's records that specifically references our version of the Wraith, then proving design infringement is going to be extremely difficult even if the two aircraft have similar or even nearly identical designs."

"Then what is the bone of contention here?" Shakti responded.

"Well, if you started marketing a product....say...King Cola, and later on someone else began manufacturing a similar product and also called it "King Cola", you'd be within your rights to sue for ideological infringement. In those cases, the courts tend to look back and see who had the idea first. The Shalrirorchian Wraith has been in service, in one form or another, for fifteen years, and public development began before that." Johnson explained. "You can't prove that DMG stole the Wraith from us, which means the more serious legal infraction is off the table. But according to our best records, it appears our Wraith came into service before the DMG variant, so you might be able to successfully sue them on the lesser violation."

"And what do we get if we win?" asked Shakti. "What are the maximum penalties afforded by law?"

"Cases like this rarely reach a verdict." Johnson replied. "What usually happens instead is that the defendant generally comes to realize that fighting the action in court and potentially losing is an expensive proposition. Generally speaking they either agree to pay a lump-sum damages award to the plaintiff and they stop infringing, or sometimes you'll see a licensing deal struck up. Depends on the situation."

OOC- Gratzi Siriusa, Silver Sky :)

Office of the President of the United States
Shalcoria, United States of Shalrirorchia

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/3204/presidentaerixw8.jpg
President Shanu Aeri


President Aeri sighed and set down her pen down onto the unyielding surface of her hardwood desk, removed her glasses, and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "So you're telling me that this could be my fault?" she asked wearily.

"Not at all, Madame President." the Defense Secretary, George Beregovoy, replied. "Just that our new defense contractor policy may have had some unintended consequences."

Aeri shook her head. For many years, the U.S.S. had relied solely on Shalrirorchian design and manufacturing for its' military hardware. Indeed, a law passed during the Gistarai Administration had reinforced this policy, forbidding the Shalrirorchian Defense Force from considering the wares of other, outside countries. The law had been intended to allow Shalrirorchia to preserve its' monopoly on its' own particular brand of warfighting technologies.

But the law had backfired badly. Released from the spectre of competition, the various defense corporations had banded together under an industry organization known as the "Coalition for Defense Armaments" or CDA. CDA used its' peculiar influence to strike hard deals with the Shalrirorchian government. The quality of armaments had sunk following the Hatarian War, yet the prices had continued to escalate.

Aeri had reversed the law and, indeed, had actually invited foreign companies into the U.S.S. to compete with the native Shalrirorchian defense contractors. The quality problems had been solved, and the CDA's influence over the marketing of defense-oriented products had been broken.

Ironically, however, lawsuits by former CDA corporations such as Aerotech were now up as they sought to throw legal obstacles into the way of foreign competitors. Aeri wasn't certain if that had been Aerotech's intent in this particular case, but she did know that the Aerotech lawsuit interfered with potential Shalrirorchian Defense Force business with DMG.

"I want a quiet meeting with the president of AII as soon as humanly possible." Aeri decided. "No cameras, no newspapermen. I don't even want it to be public knowledge."

"Yes ma'am."

"And then I am going to place an equally private call to the head of DMG."

"Yes ma'am!"