Elon Musk recently criticized Jeff Bezos and his company for using lawsuits to slow SpaceX's progress. Now it's Amazon's turn, one of Bezos' companies, to strike back at Musk and SpaceX.
Shortly after Musk commented on Bezos' actions, Amazon sent The Verge a document listing the lawsuits, government petitions, and other legal actions SpaceX has taken in recent years to prove that Musk also frequently files lawsuits to get what he wants.
Amazon may be better known to the public as an online store giant. But they also compete directly with SpaceX through its satellite internet business called Project Kuiper.
In the 13-page document, Amazon reveals a number of lawsuits filed by SpaceX. Some of them even date back to 2004, when Musk was just starting to build SpaceX.
But the document also contains procedural actions, such as when SpaceX voiced its opinion on how the United States government allocates certain spectrum bands for satellite communications.
Overall, the document contains 39 legal actions that are divided into three categories, namely litigation, protests to the Government Accountability Office, and opposition to the Federal Communications Commission.
"We fully agree with Amazon," said a spokesman for Blue Origin, which is Bezos' space company, as quoted from The Verge, Sunday (3/10/2021).
"SpaceX recognizes, having benefited from protests and lawsuits against NASA and the US Air Force, that such conduct is common practice in government procurement processes."
Shortly after Amazon shared the document, Musk immediately responded via Twitter. "SpaceX sued to be *permitted* to compete, BO (Blue Origin-red) sued to stop competition," Musk said in a tweet.
Amazon's move to publish this document is quite surprising, considering that the company Musk originally satirized was Blue Origin. While speaking at the 2021 Code Conference a few days ago, Musk quipped Blue Origin and Bezos for suing NASA for failing to get a contract to build a lander to the Moon.
"Lawsuits can't get you to the Moon, no matter how good your lawyer is," Musk said at the time.
