GUY NORRIS / ORLANDO
Universal Avionics taking lead as fellow defendants in Honeywell patent infringement action consider own countersuits
The legal battle between Honeywell and other terrain awareness and warning systems (TAWS) manufacturers over alleged patent infringements is escalating, with the defendants launching or considering a string of countersuits.
Universal Avionics Systems has filed a countersuit against Honey-well, while other TAWS manufacturers, sued by Honeywell over alleged patent infringements, may follow Universal's lead.
Honeywell originally filed patent infringement suits on 10 May against three TAWS makers: Goodrich Avionics Systems, Sandel Avionics and Universal. On 6 August Honeywell added ACSS, a joint L-3 Communications and Thales company, to the list of alleged offenders. Honeywell believes the other companies have violated one or more of five patents it says it holds on the technology which it developed, as AlliedSignal, in the 1990s as the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS). Honeywell says it has spent "millions of dollars to develop its EGPWS, which has saved thousands of lives since its introduction in 1996". The patents at issue "protect proprietary technology from that investment", it says.
Universal filed counterclaims against Honeywell on 9 September, claiming Honeywell is "attempting to monopolise the market" for TAWS, and that it has engaged in unfair competition. Universal alleges Honeywell has brought its patent infringement claims in "bad faith, knowing that its patents are invalid", but also that it "engaged in sham lobbying of the Federal Aviation Administration and European Commission". It also alleges Honeywell has "been intimidating Universal's customers".
Honeywell rejects Universal's claims as "merely baseless attempts to evade the central issues in our patent infringement lawsuit". It adds that it has investigated the validity of each of the five patents cited in the lawsuit and is confident all are valid. "We have also evaluated Universal's product and feel similarly confident that those products infringe our patents."
ACSS says its TAWS technology is derived from a Thales terrain-following system developed for Dassault's Mirage 2000N strike aircraft that pre-dates the EGPWS. "Honeywell's action is groundless and without merit," adds the company, which is believed to be considering a countersuit.
Sandel Avionics says it will continue to supply the market despite Honeywell's action. "We're taking steps to defend the lawsuit which we think is baseless," adds company president Gerry Block.
Source: Flight International
