A US court asked ISRO’s Antrix to pay Devas $ 1.2 billion in compensation.
Washington:
US court asked Antrix Corporation, ISRO’s business arm, to pay $ 1.2 billion in compensation to Bengaluru-based startup Devas Multimedia for cancellation of satellite deal in 2005.
Pursuant to the January 2005 agreement, Antrix agreed to build, launch and operate two satellites and to make available 70 MHz of S-band spectrum to Devas, which the latter planned to use to provide services. hybrid satellite and terrestrial communications across India.
The agreement was terminated by Antrix in February 2011. Over the following years, Devas took up various legal avenues in India. This included the Supreme Court, which ordered the creation of a tribunal.
In his order dated October 27, Judge Thomas S Zilly, U.S. District Judge, Western District of Washington, Seattle, ruled that Antrix Corporation was paying Devas Multimedia Corporation $ 562.5 million in compensation and the rate of corresponding interest amounting to a total of 1 USD. .2 billion.
In its complaint to the United States District Court, Devas Multimedia said three separate international tribunals and nine different arbitrators had found the termination of the Devas-Antrix agreement unjustified, with one court describing it as ” conduct “which shocks, or at least surprises, a sense of legal propriety”, and another finding that it is a “clear violation of simple good faith” on the part of India.
Antrix, in November 2018, had requested the dismissal of the lawsuit for jurisdictional issues.
The court, however, said it had jurisdiction over the matter, but suspended the case for a year and asked the two to file a joint status report by April 15, 2020.
On July 16, 2020, Devas and Antrix filed the present motion, a joint status report in which they contested whether the court should lift or extend the stay and, if so, whether Antrix should post a bond.
Devas, according to his observations, argued that the US court had jurisdiction to hear these cases because Antrix operates in this district and across the United States.
Seattle-headquartered Antrix and Spaceflight Industries have reached an agreement to provide satellite launch services using India’s PSLV rocket.
Antrix and RBC Signals LLC, headquartered in Redmond, Washington, have entered into a global agreement to provide space communications services to satellite operators.
Antrix launched in 2018 a satellite for Redmond, a planetary resource based in Washington.
Antrix agreed in 2015 to launch two satellites for Colorado-based PlanetiQ. Antrix has signed a contract with DigitalGlobe, which is headquartered in Colorado and other locations in Florida, Virginia, and Washington, to procure certain satellite data, which is then distributed through the Organization’s National Remote Sensing Center. Indian space researcher.
Devas said that after the initial signing of the deal, the two companies behaved in good faith for five years. Among other things, in May 2009, Dr Appanna Bhaskarnaryana, Director of ISRO’s Satellite Communications Program Office, spent four to five weeks in the United States with Devas staff meeting with Hughes Networks, Sirius XM SkyTerra, Qualcomm and ICO North America to understand the technologies used and the operation of hybrid satellite-terrestrial operators providing telecommunications services.
On February 25, 2011, Antrix sent a notice of termination to Devas, which declared, among other things, that the political decision rested with the central government, acting in its sovereign capacity in the event of force majeure, which occurred on February 23, 2011.
“The scope and duration of the said decision cannot be anticipated. It is likely that it will be indefinite. It is not possible for Antrix to take effective steps to resume the obligations arising from the agreement,” said Antrix .
Devas challenged Antrix’s repudiation of the deal and sought to conduct discussions among senior management as provided for by that deal.
In June 2011, Devas initiated arbitration proceedings under the Arbitration Rules of the International Chamber of Commerce.
Antrix initially refused to participate in the arbitration and obtained an injunction from the Indian Supreme Court directing the arbitration. After a year, the Supreme Court lifted the injunction, allowing the arbitration to continue. Thereafter, Antrix fully participated in the arbitration.
