French aerospace and defence group Thales is facing a multimillion-euro lawsuit from a South African aerospace contractor, also called Thales, claiming that confusion between the two names has damaged its reputation. Thales (France) operates in South Africa as ADS - the South African Thales only has rights to the name in its home country. Thales (France) dismissed the suit, saying: "We were aware of the Thales in South Africa when we rebranded, but we went ahead and assumed we would reach an agreement with them. It has been two years and we haven't got anywhere."
Source: Flight International