core sector communique

Aerodiam wins court case against Fantasy software owners

Rubinstein Software Ltd. ordered to pay Aerodiam commissions owed on sales

Antwerp, Belgium - March 21, 2012: In a court case that concluded earlier this month in Tel Aviv, Aerodiam (Antwerp) NV, the Antwerp-based European representative of Aerodiam, the veteran Israeli diamond business management software solution provider, was awarded payment of outstanding commissions owed by Rubinstein Software Ltd., owner of the Fantasy system, another Israeli diamond business management software firm. From 2000 to 2003, Aerodiam (Antwerp) had marketed the Fantasy software package on behalf of Rubinstein in the European market but, in violation of the contract between the parties, had not received sufficient and full payment of commissions on sales.

Upon delivering her verdict on March 1st, Tel Aviv District Court Judge Daliah Avi-Gay ordered Rubinstein to pay to Aerodiam immediately the amount of US$17,350 and issued a court order for Rubinstein to produce within 45 days all billings of European sales made from August 2000 to August 2003, in order to determine the final and definite amount of outstanding commission payments due to Aerodiam (Antwerp) for this contract period.

Adi Eilon, the Antwerp-based joint Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Aerodiam, said that during the court proceedings, Fantasy's owner, Sara Rubinstein, had first denied the existence of a formal, signed contract between Aerodiam and Rubinstein Software, and therefore rejected Aerodiam's claims to receive payments that were owed. "You see, we had misplaced our original, certified copy of the contract and initially could not table it as evidence to our claims. It was only after we retrieved and produced another signed copy of the contract from the archives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade that Rubinstein had to change her testimony and tell the truth."

Eilon credited Aerodiam's laywers, Tomer Rytersky and Avner Ron, with the retrieval of the contract and the subsequent successful conclusion of the court case. He recalled that at the time a copy of the contract, signed by both parties, had been submitted by Rubinstein Software Ltd. to the ministry in order to receive subsidies that would contribute toward the marketing of the Fantasy system abroad, in this case by Aerodiam (Antwerp), in Europe. "Locating that copy was our lucky strike, but at the same time one could query if those subsidies were indeed granted and consequently paid out by the Israeli government and if so, where they ended up?" he asked.