Loral Corp. and its Conic Corp. subsidiary...

Loral Corp. and its Conic Corp. subsidiary violated antitrust law by scheming to keep San Diego-based Decom Systems from introducing a telecommunications product, according to a suit filed by Decom in U.S. District Court in San Diego. The complaint seeks $100 million in damages.

Loral “has employed a variety of schemes intended to prevent DSI from introducing its Quad 7 Integrated Telemetry Systems into direct competition with Loral’s System 500,” according to Decom chief financial officer Steve Borgardt. Aviation companies use telemetry systems to track aircraft.

The suit also alleges that Decom provided Loral “proprietary information” on its products and plans after Loral indicated that it wanted to acquire Decom. “We acted in good faith by providing information, and they responded by making a frivolous offer,” according to Borgardt.

Loral filed a similar suit against Decom on Feb. 25 in Superior Court in San Diego. The suit alleged that Decom took Loral’s trade secrets and illegally lured Loral employees.

Borgardt on Monday dismissed Loral’s suit as “ridiculous . . . . They’re a $1.8-billion company and we’re a small company” ($9.2 million in sales). “It’s a classical case of a big company picking on a small competitor. But they picked on the wrong competitor this time.”

The suit filed by Decom focuses on a lower-end “integrated telemetry ground support” device that Decom recently introduced. Loral has dominated the market for that kind of product, according to Borgardt.