Men Left To Start Aspen Avionics

A small multifunction digital avionics display that's won kudos from Aero-News in the past, is now at the heart of a lawsuit filed by Albuquerque, New Mexico-based planemaker Eclipse Aviation.

Last week, Eclipse filed suit against Jeff Bethel and Peter Lyons, two former employees who left Eclipse in July 2005 to start Aspen Avionics. Aspen's first product, the AT300 Hazard Awareness display, was certified by the FAA in 2005... and was named one of the best products of the year by the ANN staff.

Trouble is, according to the Eclipse lawsuit, the AT300 was designed on company time, and released within one year after the men left Eclipse... and is thus the sole property of the very-light-jet manufacturer.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that among the charges in the lawsuit, Eclipse seeks ownership of Aspen Avionics' AT300 technology, as well as payment of monetary losses incurred because Eclipse had to outsource technology that performed the functions of the AT300 product.

The planemaker says Lyons and Bethel both signed invention and nondisclosure agreements when they came onboard Eclipse in 2002... and while they worked in different departments and had little professional interaction, the two men did exchange emails at Eclipse regarding communications and navigation software development.

The lawsuit also states the two men emailed one another about raising capital for Aspen Avionics, and hunted for office space on company time.

Eclipse also says the men pitched their product at corporate trade shows... when they were there on the company dime, to help pitch Eclipse's very-light-jet. The suit also states the Eclipse 500 features systems very similar to the devices developed by Lyons and Bethel.

No comments yet from either side.

FMI: www.eclipseaviation.com, www.aspenavionics.com