The spat between California electric carmakers Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive will be decided in arbitration, a court ruled June 11.
An arbitrator could be appointed by the end of next week, with a decision coming within three months, a Fisker lawyer said.
Tesla sued Fisker Automotive, CEO Henrik Fisker, a related design business and another executive April 14 in San Mateo Superior Court, alleging theft of design secrets and poor design work. Fisker has denied the allegations.
Fisker performed design and interior work on Tesla’s WhiteStar sedan, which Tesla has said will reach the market by 2010. Fisker plans to launch its own hybrid, a plug-in called the Karma, in 2009.
Fisker had asked the court for arbitration, which it says is a condition of its contract with Tesla. It doesn’t plan to counter sue.
“I feel very good about it,” said Henrik Fisker, a former Aston Martin designer. “We got exactly what we wanted out of it.”
Tesla spokesman Darryl Siry was in France and did not have an immediate comment on the ruling. A lawyer for Tesla did not return two phone calls June 12.
Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies, which Fisker says developed the hybrid technology for the Karma, was added in May as a defendant in the case. The company hadn’t made a court appearance as of the ruling, and wasn’t covered by it.
Meanwhile, Fisker maintained his Karma sedan remains on pace to be launched by the end of 2009 and said the company has received 750 orders for it.
source: http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080613/FREE/407875759/1065
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