[livi]

Could I please ask the lawyers a question regarding breach of contract.

As some of you know I have a small side business developing Medical devices. With one of our Products we have a contract/agreement with a rather small American family business. They signed an agreement to have exclusive rights to manufacture and market the device during a period of Three years. As is very common with this kind of agreement, a minimum royalty was included.

As it turns out, the American Company has not managed to reach the market at all. They claim they have not been able to manufacture the device at a low enough cost to make a net income on sales. They now want to break the agreement and feel that they have put a lot of Money into it already and therefore Think it it reasonable that they donīt have to pay the minimum royalties. Note that it has cost me a lot too during this period, not least the very expensive patent fees involved.

In my World, put simple, the minimum royalty is there for just this situation. Its the price you pay in order to get an exclusive opportunity to do your best and make Money on it without competition. Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant.

The crux is that the agreement states that any dispute is to be settled in the USA. My question is what my chances are of winning and how I go about to do this.

To make it clear, we are not in dispute regarding what is agreed upon in the contract. They simply want to break the agreement as they have not been able to market the Product.

Any help, comments or otherwise input very much appreciated.

Thanks!