Smartmatic International, a global technology company that develops advanced voting systems to support elections worldwide, has filed suit in the Delaware Court of Chancery against Dominion Voting Systems for that company’s alleged breach of a licensing agreement and tortious interference with Smartmatic’s business. The lawsuit is seeking compensation from Dominion for allegedly withholding technology and services that had been licensed to Smartmatic, and for Dominion’s intentional actions to denigrate Smartmatic’s brand and undermine its relationship with customers and prospects. “This lawsuit is necessary because of Dominion’s persistent refusal to deliver technology that Smartmatic legally licensed,” said David Melville, General Counsel of Smartmatic. “We intend to recover the costs of rectifying a basic Dominion software error that nearly affected the 2010 Philippine elections, which we went to great lengths and expense to correct in keeping with our commitment to maintain the highest standards of election integrity and transparency.”
“In addition, we have evidence that Dominion has intentionally tampered with our prospective customer relationships in Mongolia and Puerto Rico, in direct violation of our licensing agreement and for the express purpose of eliminating us as competition,” said Mr. Melville.
Smartmatic made repeated attempts to settle these differences with Dominion out of court, but is forced to seek a declaratory judgment to require Dominion comply with the licensing agreement. Mr. Melville said the lawsuit will have no impact on Smartmatic’s ability to serve its clients worldwide or to fulfill the contracts it is pursuing with a dozen countries to support upcoming elections. The company, which is the global market leader for innovative electoral systems, will continue to provide unmatched technology and services throughout this litigation.