CORRECTION: L-3 sued for trade-secret, product-info disclosure
Lawsuit contends foreign entity gained competitive advantage through violation of confidential agreements.
CORRECTION: This article has been updated. It originally identified the plaintiff as a Glen Burnie, Md., company. The actual plaintiff is a company in Bentonville, Ark.
Government contractor L-3 Communications Corp. and subsidiary L-3 MAPPS Canada are being sued for breach of contract and unauthorized disclosure of confidential and proprietary trade secrets and product information to a foreign entity and direct market competitor.
Vision Technologies Inc., a Bentonville, Ark., a certified small business that develops and markets highly specialized and technical camera systems, filed the complaint in federal court for the Western District of Arkansas in Fayetteville, according to a June 7 announcement.
The complaint states that L-3 MAPPS provided Vision Technologies’ engineering drawings and technical information to Kongsberg Maritime, a Norwegian company, which allegedly gave Kongsberg a competitive advantage and violated the terms of the confidential agreements between L-3 MAPPS and Vision Technologies.
Ultimately, Kongsberg sold its camera systems to L-3 MAPPS.
Vision Technologies alleges that the transfer of its technical drawings allowed Kongsberg to win a $1.2 million contract from L-3 for the Canadian Navy Halifax Frigate program, which L-3 MAPPS had previously committed to Vision Technologies.
Vision Technologies is seeking damages in excess of $2 million for lost profits as a result of the unauthorized release of its confidential information and the loss of the Halifax program contracts.
The complaint also seeks an injunction against L-3 Communications for any future use or release of the confidential information.
L-3 Communications Corp., of McLean, Va., ranks No. 8 on Washington Technology’s 2011 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.