5.18.2006
Something's Gotta Give
Now that the district court has ruled -- again -- for the defendants in SpaceX's long-shot antitrust action against Boeing and Lockheed's pending ULA deal, Elon Musk and his lawyers must decide whether to appeal. (My guess is the lawyers have already prepared if not filed at least a notice of appeal, or whatever the procedural step is in California federal civil practice.)(And it doesn't pay to wonder whether that long-awaited decision on the ULA merger itself would be in hand by now if Judge Florence-Marie Cooper worked instead at the FTC.)
Meanwhile, in the courtroom of public opinion that is the US media, SpaceX's VP for international and government affairs Lawrence H. Williams blasts away at ULA with a call to Let Competition Work. (Via HobbySpace.) This op-ed is, in part, a response to an earlier Space News endorsement of the ULA venture.
Some SpaceX supporters are not happy with the whole situation. Over on Space Politics today one reader posted a suggestion Elon has heard before -- that the rocket company drop the legal wrangling and focus on rocket launching. But of course, litigation is handled by lawyers -- folks notoriously lame at building rockets. You need to keep those guys busy and out of the way somehow. Besides, SpaceX can walk, sue, build Falcons, and chew gum at the same time. (Especially if Elon is buying all the gum.) In the end, if the company had won (or, going forward, wins) in court, SpaceX supporters would not complain.
