A GPS satelliteThe bankrupt wireless company LightSquared filed a lawsuit on Friday heavy equipment manufacturer against John Deere and GPS companies Garmin and Trimble.
LightSquared’s lawsuit contends that Deere, Garmin and Trimble knew that the company’s wireless network would interfere with GPS devices but kept quiet about it until it was too late, according to a report from Reuters.
LightSquared put $4 billion into the failed network until it was blocked by the government from fully building it out over the FCC’s concerns with GPS interference. In its lawsuit, LightSquared says that Deere, Garmin and Trimble led it to believe that the network would, in fact, not cause interference before speaking up against it later.
The wireless company’s suit follows a similar one filed in August by Harbinger Capital Partners, a New York-based private hedge fund. Harbinger is suing the same companies for damages of $1.9 billion.
LightSquared was given permission by a judge to pause its ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy trial to decide whether it wanted to join Harbinger’s lawsuit or file one of its own. In its bankruptcy trial, LightSquared is fighting to keep control of its valuable chunk of wireless spectrum.
