2023-05-08 13:04:45
On Monday followingnoon, the Vienna Commercial Court had to deal with a million-dollar lawsuit relating to the manufacturer of the PCR test kits for the Vienna Covid test program “Alles gurgelt”, Lead Horizon. The German company CoviMedical wants to reverse the purchase of test kits because it considers them unusable and has filed a lawsuit with a value in dispute of 3.3 million euros. Talks are now being held on a possible agreement.
The point of contention is a business relationship that the leading provider of corona test solutions in Germany entered into with Lead Horizon in March 2022. The Vienna PCR test kits should be rolled out nationwide at 200 locations in Germany in order to be prepared for any upcoming pandemic waves. A purchase agreement for one million test kits was concluded, which CoviMedical now considers obsolete because the app is unable to clearly identify the test person. Contrary to Lead Horizon’s assurances, the app’s artificial intelligence (AI) was not able to correctly match the person registered for the test with the scanned document or the face held up to the camera, CoviMedical claimed in the run-up to the trial.
Michael Putz, the majority owner of Lead Horizon, dismissed the allegations following the hearing as “ridiculous and unfounded” to the APA. In Germany there is a different legal situation, where home tests are still not allowed. The sample may only be taken there by trained personnel or, if necessary, under the appropriate supervision of authorized persons. The properties of the web app intended for the German market were always clearly communicated.
The German company speculated that the legal framework would change and only wanted to reverse everything when the pandemic situation had eased, said Putz. In addition, it is regarding a completely different web app than the one used in Austria for the “Everything gurgelt” project. In Austria, the test process is not checked by artificial intelligence. It was a web application specially developed for CoviMedical and according to their wishes. This was far better and more advanced, said Putz. “The speculation loss is now passed on to Lead Horizon”. But he was still willing to negotiate, said the majority owner.
After the appointment at the commercial court, the parties met for an initial meeting. The use of a mediator, as suggested by the judge, in order to reach an agreement, was also discussed. In two weeks, the parties involved should let us know whether the parties want to use mediation. A further appointment in October at the commercial court was agreed for the further steps.
The offer made by Lead Horizon to repay half of the deposit of one million was rejected by the managing director of the German company – represented by Katharina Kitzberger from the law firm Weber & Co – and a counter offer of 1, 8 million euros. This in turn was rejected by Lead Horizon on the grounds that the ordered app had been completed and that costs had been incurred as a result. “It will be very difficult,” said Holger Bielesz, legal representative of the Vienna gargle test provider. The judge proposed a payment of 1.030 million euros from Lead Horizon to CoviMedical followed by the termination of the contract, which the parties are now considering.
In Vienna in particular, during the pandemic, self-testing in the living room as part of the “Alles gurgelt” campaign was very popular. 46.8 million people gargled in the federal capital. In the Lead Horizon Web solution, photos of the person being tested and their ID card were processed for identity verification and compared with the face that had to be held up to the camera. This was the only way to get an officially recognized test result. According to Lead Horizon, the video that users had to create while gargling was used to ensure that the test was carried out correctly. The videos themselves would be viewed “in the event of a complaint and for quality assurance” by selected Lead Horizon employees, the company had assured in March 2021.
In addition to the proceedings at the commercial court, criminal investigations are also pending once morest the majority owner of Lead Horizon, Michael Putz. There are suspicions of infidelity, forgery of documents and evidence. Putz denies the allegations.
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