Datalex settles dispute


1 Oct 2003

Datalex is to pay PSA (‘Psazz’) approximately €435,000 in an out-of-court settlement of the dispute over the Psazz travel portal.

PSA filed the €25m lawsuit in March over a booking engine Datalex had provided and licensed to it in 2000. At the time, PSA accused Datalex of not having “the technical capability to deliver the working system it touted having”. PSA said it incurred millions of dollars in losses because of the alleged shortcomings of the booking engine provided.

As part of the settlement the parties agreed to unwind their relationship with no admission of liability. The settlement was reached on 30 September, the eve of the commencement of a jury trial in the Federal District Court in Los Angeles, California.

“While we were always certain that our case would prevail, we considered it more beneficial to our company, clients, employees and investors to put an end to this dispute rather than letting it continue indefinitely through appeal,” said Datalex CEO Neil Beck.

“The settlement is less than the offer we made at the outset of the dispute, two years ago, and less than the original licence fee paid by Psazz. With this action now behind us, we can continue to concentrate our energies fully on the real business matters before us.”

By Brian Skelly