Force India have been ordered to pay Caterham and Mike Gascoyne £650,000 ($1.05m) in legal costs following a copyright dispute.
A High Court judge ruled in Caterham’s favour earlier this year following a legal dispute launched by the Vijay Mallya owned outfit which had accused the former Team Lotus outfit and Italian aerodynamics specialist Aerolab of copying its intellectual property.
Whilst the 1 Malaysia Racing Team, parent company of Caterham, was found to have been in possession of the property, the judge ruled that it hadn’t been used extensively and therefore ordered them to pay just £20,000 to Force India.
This sum is more than easily covered by the £650,000 Force India have been ordered to pay Caterham and Gascoyne to cover their legal expenses.
This cost comes on top of a further £700,000 bill for outstanding fees owed to Aerolab, which had been in charge of the intellectual property at the time and has worked with both teams in the past.
Force India must pay the £650,000 within 14 days pending an appeal which has been postponed according to a team statement.
“In a curtailed hearing today at London’s High Court, the ruling on Sahara Force India Formula One Team’s application for permission to appeal was postponed with a further hearing expected in the coming weeks,” read the statement.
“The appeal relates to the 25,000 Euros of damages that Aerolab and Fondtech were ordered to pay Sahara Force India Formula One Team for misuse of confidential information.
“The interim costs payments awarded to Mr Gascoyne and 1 Malaysia Racing in today’s ruling are more than covered by funds already provided by Sahara Force India Formula One Team as security for costs pending the outcome of the case.”
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