My question involves business law in the state of: California,
Capella Space is a Silicon Valley cube satellite imaging company launching the first U.S. commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite in 2018. Capella will provide persistent, reliable and affordable products and services through its planned constellation of 48 SAR satellites. Capella satellites can “see” through clouds and at night, permitting imaging during bad weather and/or low light conditions. Customers will be able to rely on access to high re-visit high-resolution imagery of anywhere in the world providing valuable insight for a wide variety of applications such as security & defense, maritime awareness, business intelligence, energy, agriculture, etc.
Plaintiff River Front Services, Inc. (“Plaintiff” or “River Front”), by counsel, and for its Complaint against Capella Space Corp. (“Defendant” or “Capella”) hereby states as follows:
SUMMARY OF CLAIMS
In 2017, under a set of purchase orders and invoices, Plaintiff designed and built for Defendant sophisticated components for a small space craft that Defendant planned to launch. Defendant failed and refused to pay in full for the components. As a result of the failure to pay, Plaintiff suffered a loss of approximately $450,000.
PARTIES
1. River Front is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia and has its principal place of business in Chantilly, Virginia.
2. Capella is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, and has its principal place of business in Palo Alto, California.
JURISDICTION AND VENUE
3. The Court has original jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 because the matter in controversy exceeds the sum of $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and is between citizens of different states.
4. The Court has personal jurisdiction over Capella because Capella’s principal place of business is located in this judicial district.
5. Venue is proper within this judicial district under 28 U.S.C. § 1391 because a substantial part of the events giving rise to the claims occurred in this district and Capella resides in this district.
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
6. Capella is an early-stage company with the goal of providing satellite radar imaging information services from space utilizing synthetic aperture radar (“SAR”). It plans to launch Capella1, its first SAR satellite, in early 2018, and ultimately to deploy approximately thirty-six satellites.
7. River Front is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business that specializes in
developing technologies for space systems hardware and software, among other things.
8. A Tape Deployment Assembly or “TDA” is a mechanical deployment device designed to extend and retract structural tape from a rolled state to an extended state and, more particularly, refers to a mechanical structural tape deployment device suitable for use in space and other environments. The manufactured assembly controls and manages the deployment of composite tapes used as booms on spacecraft.
9. In early November 2016, Jeffrey Harvey, an engineering consultant to both parties, introduced River Front to Capella. Jeffrey Harvey, Toby Harvey, and TJ Harvey, had a contract with Capella to design the satellite’s folding antenna.
10. Another engineering challenge was the design of a space-qualified TDA. In mid- November, River Front offered to provide a TDA, at cost and for delivery in January 2017, if Capella agreed to a long-term production contract or “purchase agreement.”
11. Capella’s Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) Payam Banazadeh demurred on a purchase agreement, but he expressed interest in buying River Front’s intellectual property to make the TDA space flight- worthy. He also wanted exclusive use of the IP.
12. Capella Space CEO, Payam Banazadeh stated that his company was “a start-up trying to add value to Capella as quickly as we can. Part of that means we are hungry for owning IP and/or gaining some sort of unfair advantage to keep the competitors out of our domain.”
13. On November 16, he offered to purchase River Front’s entire TDA system, including the tapes. The Capella Space CEO, Payam Banazadeh suggested that he travel to River Front’s facility in Virginia to discuss the purchase in further detail.
14. At the same time, and without Riverfront’s knowledge or consent, Capella created a Preliminary Design Review (“PDR”) slide deck describing, among other items, a River Front “proprietary Hybrid Tape Drive.” River Front’s logo appeared on the deck. River Front did not participate at all in the deck’s creation and remained unaware of its existence until mid-2017.
15. On December 5, the parties met in Virginia. They discussed a proposal for River Front to supply the TDA’s to Capella’s entire program. River Front agreed to begin development of a space-qualified TDA if Capella would agree to purchase from River Front all the TDA’s for
thirty-six spacecraft. The project involved two-hundred sixteen TDA’s over a ten-year development period.
More Information:
https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/...lla_Space_Corp
