UAL accused of theft of baggage-delivery technology in lawsuit

UAL Corp., owner of United Airlines, is accused in a lawsuit of stealing technology to develop a method of delivering baggage to people's homes.

Applied Transport Solutions Inc. claims in the suit, filed April 27 in Chicago, that it developed a door-to- door baggage delivery system, allowing people to fly without having to check suitcases. United and ATS signed a confidentiality agreement and ATS promised not to work on the system with anyone else, according to the statement of claim.

"United would not have been able to launch door-to-door baggage service without using ATS's confidential and proprietary information," ATS said. "United has both earned millions of dollars and saved millions more in operating expenses" as a result of the system.

United announced on Oct. 28, 2008, that it was teaming with FedEx Corp. to ship passengers' bags overnight.

Jean Medina, a spokeswoman at Chicago-based UAL, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.