Landlord sues over bidding for patent lease.(Business)

0 Comments | Washington Times, The, January, 1999 | by Cleary, Mike

The Patent and Trademark Office's landlord has sued the federal government, arguing it rigged the bidding process against the agency's current home. Last week, real estate developer Charles E. Smith Cos. asked the U.S. District Court in Alexandria to halt the bidding process temporarily or start over, saying the federal government unfairly favors moving the massive patent office complex to one of two competing proposals for new offices in Alexandria.

An attorney for Arlington-based Smith Cos. blamed the federal government's leasing arm, the General Services Administration, which oversees the bidding, for causing the lawsuit. "We have consistently tried to work with the General Services Administration short of litigation, dating all the way back to...