Now Reading: US court upholds $1.2 billion award against Antrix in Devas case
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US court upholds $1.2 billion award against Antrix in Devas case
The Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals has upheld a roughly $1.2 billion judgment against Antrix Corp, ISRO's commercial arm, in the Devas Multimedia dispute. The court rejected Antrix's arguments that India…
The Story in Brief
The Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals has upheld a roughly $1.2 billion judgment against Antrix Corp, ISRO's commercial arm, in the Devas Multimedia dispute. The court rejected Antrix's arguments that India was the proper venue and that US courts lacked jurisdiction.
However, the appeals court did not decide whether India's annulment of the original arbitration award, finalised after the Supreme Court declined review in October 2023, should affect enforcement of the US judgment. That question has been sent back to the district court. The dispute began with a 2005 satellite agreement that Antrix terminated in 2011.
The Indian Opinion
Indian readers may feel uneasy seeing ISRO's commercial arm hit with such a large foreign judgment. Yet the real story is simpler: Antrix ended a contract, arbitration found it wrongful, and courts upheld that. The narrative that India's sovereignty is under attack ignores that Antrix signed the arbitration agreement willingly. The test now is the US district court's decision on whether India's annulment matters. If the award is enforced despite India's ruling, the question becomes: can Indian companies safely do business abroad?
Sources (2): hindustantimes.com, timesnownews.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
