Aerospace giant demands destruction of confidential information
Aerospace giant Boeing has filed a lawsuit against space tourism startup Virgin Galactic, accusing the company of stealing trade secrets and failing to pay $25,000,000 for work on a new “mother plane” designed to take an excursion ship to space.
Boeing and its subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences asked a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to order Virgin Galactic to destroy confidential information that the company allegedly obtained while collaborating with Aurora to create a new mothership.
The lawsuit alleges that California-based Virgin Galactic illegally held intellectual property, including test results and some mathematical equations.
«This data is confidential information to which Virgin Galactic had no rights», — the lawsuit says. Boeing said that Virgin Galactic could use this information in the future «to develop a new carrier ship on its own or with a [new] partner».
Virgin Galactic said in a statement: «We believe this lawsuit is meritless as a matter of fact and law, and we will defend ourselves».
Virgin Galactic was founded by billionaire Richard Branson in 2004 and offers tourists the opportunity to fly into space aboard a Unity rocket-powered space plane. Last year, the company made its first commercial launch, sending a three-person crew more than 80.5 kilometers above the New Mexico desert.
In 2022, Virgin Galactic entered into a contract with Aurora to provide engineering services to develop a new ship. Aurora subsequently concluded that Virgin Galactic's proposed mothership would cost more and take longer to develop than expected — noted in the lawsuit.
Virgin Galactic allegedly refused to pay Aurora more than $25,000,000 for work done. According to the lawsuit, Aurora has not performed additional work since May 2023.