The matter is serious : the aircraft manufacturer, canadian Bombardier sues Mitsubishi Aircraft, its competitor japanese sector of the regional jets, for the theft of intellectual property. The complaint, filed on October 19, before the federal Court of the United States, Seattle (Washington), is also the Aerospace Testing Engineering & Certification (AeroTEC), as a subcontractor of Mitsubishi in Seattle, and ex-Bombardier employees, recruited by the group to japan in 2015 and in 2016.
Bombardier alleged, in a document supporting its claims and which the agency The canadian Press has obtained a copy, they would have, before resigning, sent to Mitsubishi, through their e-mail, important information on the certification process of regional jets the CSeries from canada’s ministry of transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration, the us government agency. At the time, the japanese group is already experiencing difficulties for the certification of its own programme of regional jets.
One of the defectors – Michel Korwin-Szymanowski – is also accused of having played the role of intermediary, in 2015, in the recruitment of former colleagues of Bombardier. It would have sent out 240 e-mails to talk about “positions available” to working towards ” the development and certification of the Mitsubishi regional jet “.
Bombardier blames the company in japan have lobbied to attract its employees, in October 2015, at a job fair in Wichita, Kansas, near the center of flight testing of its CSeries aircraft. In front of the centre, billboards invited the employees of Bombardier to come apply. Mitsubishi would have also hired 92 employees during a job fair held in July 2016 in Montreal, Quebec, not far from its headquarters. It is thought to have evidence of a theft of trade secrets by several…