A three-member panel of the American Arbitration Association handed down a $1.9 million ruling in favor of General Scanning Inc., based in Watertown, Mass. The company had been involved in a contract dispute with Voxel, an optical equipment manufacturer.
The dispute stems from an agreement signed by the two companies whereby General Scanning would develop a beta unit of a system that could produce holographic, 3-D images onto film from a computerized axial tomography scan or from a magnetic resonance image. Voxel cited problems with the system and halted payments to General Scanning. The two companies entered into binding arbitration, with Voxel counterclaiming for lost profits on future production. Voxel's stock plummeted 65 percent in the wake of the legal decision.