January ’12 Date Set for Force India High Court Hearing

The week commencing 16 January 2012 has been scheduled by the English High Court to hear the four-pronged intellectual property infringement claim by Force India F1 Team Ltd. against 1 Malaysia Racing Team SDN BHD, discount 1 Malaysia Racing Team (UK) Ltd, recipe Michael Gascoyne and Aerolab Srl.

1 Malaysia Racing is the current owner of Team Lotus, which incidentally is in the midst of a naming rights spat with Renault F1 backer Group Lotus.  

The Vijay Mallya-owned Force India F1 team last year included F1 rival Lotus in the suit it filed against aerodynamic design company Aerolab and Fondtech, which it had accused of copying its VJM03 wind tunnel model.

Force India released a statement, reading: “Separate criminal proceedings are currently ongoing in Italy in respect of the  wrongful disclosure of confidential information, as a consequence of the filing by Force India F1 Team Ltd of a complaint with the competent authorities. In respect of these proceedings, articles in the Italian press have recently revealed that Tony Fernandes, Mike Gascoyne and Jean Claude Migeot have been formally charged.”