Bombardier sues Mitsubishi jet programme over trade secrets

Canadian airplane maker Bombardier has sued the aircraft unit of Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, saying former Bombardier employees passed on trade secrets to help Mitsubishi’s oft-delayed regional jet project.

Bombardier filed the lawsuit late Friday in a federal court in Seattle against Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, Seattle-based Aerospace Testing Engineering & Certification (AeroTEC), and several former Bombardier employees, according to a Reuters report Monday.

AeroTEC is working with Mitsubishi Aircraft to help it get the 90-seat passenger jet certified by regulators.

The 92-page lawsuit alleges that Bombardier employees who were recruited by Mitsubishi or AeroTEC brought with them confidential documents and data related to the certification of airplanes in Canada and the United States.

Bombardier is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent Mitsubishi Aircraft and AeroTEC from using the information it says was taken. The lawsuit says the employees sent key documents to their personal email accounts prior to leaving Bombardier and joining the Mitsubishi project.

A spokeswoman for Mitsubishi Aircraft said on Monday the company believed Bombardier’s claim was “groundless”.

“We will consider the details and prove this in the appropriate venue,” she added.

AeroTEC could not immediately be reached for comment on Sunday.

Mitsubishi’s regional jet programme, Japan’s first passenger plane since the 1960s, has been delayed by several years, with first customer ANA Holdings now expecting the 90-seater plane in 2020, rather than in 2013 as originally envisaged.

In the lawsuit, Bombardier accused Mitsubishi Aircraft of violating the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 by trying to use the confidential data and documents obtained from former employees to accelerate the “extremely complex and costly” process of getting its planes certified.