Mallya Vs Gascoyne. Round 2.
Discussion
Since a judge basically booted out Force India's claim against Caterham yesterday for being a whole pile of guff.
It seems as if Mallya is trying to distract his numerous creditors (Kingfisher Airlines is on life support and likely to be dead as a door nail within a very short space of time) by now referring Caterham to the FIA for having a couple of Force India bits on their car.
There's quite a bit of history between Gascoyne and Mallya and the personal animosity seems to have boiled over.
My opinion is that Mallya is being a grade a t*sspot about this. He lost the case against aerolab and Caterham, alright he was awarded $25,000 of damages, but the judge is forcing FI to pay $800,000 odd to Aerolab in unpaid fees...
I get the feeling that the whole Kingfisher empire is in deep doo-doo, so what might that mean for Force India?
It seems as if Mallya is trying to distract his numerous creditors (Kingfisher Airlines is on life support and likely to be dead as a door nail within a very short space of time) by now referring Caterham to the FIA for having a couple of Force India bits on their car.
There's quite a bit of history between Gascoyne and Mallya and the personal animosity seems to have boiled over.
My opinion is that Mallya is being a grade a t*sspot about this. He lost the case against aerolab and Caterham, alright he was awarded $25,000 of damages, but the judge is forcing FI to pay $800,000 odd to Aerolab in unpaid fees...
I get the feeling that the whole Kingfisher empire is in deep doo-doo, so what might that mean for Force India?
Below, a press release I received from Force India this morning...
Caterham (formerly Team Lotus) and Aerolab found liable for using Force India intellectual property
Following the publication of Team Lotus wind tunnel model pictures in November 2009, Force India Formula One Team lodged a complaint with the Criminal Court in Italy and subsequently commenced civil proceedings in the UK High Court, citing concerns in respect of Team Lotus, Aerolab and Mike Gascoyne illegally copying Force India Formula One Team design intellectual property accessed from secure files held at Aerolab.
The case was heard at the High Court, London during January 2012 with Mr Justice Arnold finding Team Lotus (now known as Caterham) and Aerolab liable for copyright infringement and using confidential information respectively. Some parts created using Force India confidential information were used on the Team Lotus race cars in the early part of the 2010 season.
The UK High Court judgement, in respect of the illegal copying, will now be referred for the consideration of Formula One's governing body, the FIA, whilst the Italian criminal case against Mike Gascoyne, Tony Fernandes and Jean Claude Migeot remains ongoing.
Caterham (formerly Team Lotus) and Aerolab found liable for using Force India intellectual property
Following the publication of Team Lotus wind tunnel model pictures in November 2009, Force India Formula One Team lodged a complaint with the Criminal Court in Italy and subsequently commenced civil proceedings in the UK High Court, citing concerns in respect of Team Lotus, Aerolab and Mike Gascoyne illegally copying Force India Formula One Team design intellectual property accessed from secure files held at Aerolab.
The case was heard at the High Court, London during January 2012 with Mr Justice Arnold finding Team Lotus (now known as Caterham) and Aerolab liable for copyright infringement and using confidential information respectively. Some parts created using Force India confidential information were used on the Team Lotus race cars in the early part of the 2010 season.
The UK High Court judgement, in respect of the illegal copying, will now be referred for the consideration of Formula One's governing body, the FIA, whilst the Italian criminal case against Mike Gascoyne, Tony Fernandes and Jean Claude Migeot remains ongoing.
Well, that's a load of old tosh!
Here's the other side of the story.
Here's the other side of the story.
Autosport said:
Aerolab's managing director Jean-Claude Migeot says he is pleased to have proved his company's innocence following a long-running legal dispute with Force India regarding the use of intellectual property.
Aerolab had been a partner of Vijay Mallya's squad, but terminated the relationship in 2009 over unpaid bills.
It then partnered with Caterham F1 - then Lotus – to design the T127 – which proved the centre of the legal dispute as Force India alleged its intellectual property had been systematically copied. At the same time Aerolab pursued the team through the courts with regard to the unpaid bills.
The protracted disputes were settled on Wednesday, when Mr Justice Arnold said Force India had come "nowhere near" proving systematic copying – and at the same time settled in favour of Aerolab's pursuit of €850,000.
"It's been such a long story – so long, and so big, for such a small issue – but I am glad to say it's over," Migeot told AUTOSPORT. "The judge made his conviction on the right side - putting things right is always very satisfactory.
"We are pleased that the truth is out, which was the main difficulty before Force India was trying to demonstrate a huge conspiracy between Team Lotus, Mike and myself, which actually never existed and was never found in any evidence.
"We always thought it was a huge trial for such a short matter, a nonsense. Force India was adamant it had a multi-million case though and there was no way of even opening a discussion and it unfortunately ended in the courts.
"It was a big story brought up to delay the payment they owed us from 2009 – they had hoped to find the perfect excuse."
Migeot's company were ordered to pay Force India €25,000 in compensation for the copying of some intellectual property rights, an act that was deemed an 'opportunistic shortcut' by the judge.
"When we found this, we admitted it – this is all miles before the trial," Migeot said. "But they didn't want to believe it was so little.
"When a customer is finished their contract they have to give a notice period, so when you come down to the last day everything is clean – all the computers are wiped.
"The trouble is I had to throw Force India out due to non-payment, then we started working for Lotus basically the day after – we had no time to clean the computers and in this overlap a few people kept some of their studies
"It's a very fine line between using your knowledge and using someone else's IP, which we don't do. We have contractors and consultants – and people come to us because we have the know-how and experience."
Aerolab had been a partner of Vijay Mallya's squad, but terminated the relationship in 2009 over unpaid bills.
It then partnered with Caterham F1 - then Lotus – to design the T127 – which proved the centre of the legal dispute as Force India alleged its intellectual property had been systematically copied. At the same time Aerolab pursued the team through the courts with regard to the unpaid bills.
The protracted disputes were settled on Wednesday, when Mr Justice Arnold said Force India had come "nowhere near" proving systematic copying – and at the same time settled in favour of Aerolab's pursuit of €850,000.
"It's been such a long story – so long, and so big, for such a small issue – but I am glad to say it's over," Migeot told AUTOSPORT. "The judge made his conviction on the right side - putting things right is always very satisfactory.
"We are pleased that the truth is out, which was the main difficulty before Force India was trying to demonstrate a huge conspiracy between Team Lotus, Mike and myself, which actually never existed and was never found in any evidence.
"We always thought it was a huge trial for such a short matter, a nonsense. Force India was adamant it had a multi-million case though and there was no way of even opening a discussion and it unfortunately ended in the courts.
"It was a big story brought up to delay the payment they owed us from 2009 – they had hoped to find the perfect excuse."
Migeot's company were ordered to pay Force India €25,000 in compensation for the copying of some intellectual property rights, an act that was deemed an 'opportunistic shortcut' by the judge.
"When we found this, we admitted it – this is all miles before the trial," Migeot said. "But they didn't want to believe it was so little.
"When a customer is finished their contract they have to give a notice period, so when you come down to the last day everything is clean – all the computers are wiped.
"The trouble is I had to throw Force India out due to non-payment, then we started working for Lotus basically the day after – we had no time to clean the computers and in this overlap a few people kept some of their studies
"It's a very fine line between using your knowledge and using someone else's IP, which we don't do. We have contractors and consultants – and people come to us because we have the know-how and experience."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17471815
The BBC say that Vijay is in financial trouble as well. Looks like they may be a bit less Indian next season...
The BBC say that Vijay is in financial trouble as well. Looks like they may be a bit less Indian next season...
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