New Orleans Times-Picayune May 5, 2000 Friday; SECTION: Money; Pg. C01

BYLINE: By Richard Sine West Bank bureau

Attorneys for a Japanese consumer-electronics giant accused a Metairie
inventor this week of gambling and buying a new Mercedes with money the
company loaned him for his paging technology.

The accusation was made this week by Matsushita attorney Edward Kohnke
IV during opening statements of a lawsuit filed by Metairie inventor
Bobby Adams. Adams said he partnered with Matsushita, the Japanese maker
of electronic goods under the Panasonic brand, to manufacture and
promote pagers in 1994. The deal fell apart three years later, and now
Adams claims Matsushita stole his technology. Adams, president of the
now bankrupt Axcess Global Corp., has not yet taken the stand, and
Kohnke presented no direct evidence to support his accusations. Ronald
Goux, chairman of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Commission, is
chairman of Axcess.

"The intent from the beginning was to drive Axcess out of business and
take that technology themselves," Axcess attorney Stephen Hackerman said
during opening statements.

But Kohnke said Matsushita had no interest in the technology. "Why would
we want to lose $15 million to put another company out of business to
acquire a technology that doesn't work, and that everyone owns but no
one uses for pager technology because it doesn't sell?" said Kohnke, who
compared the pagers to the Edsel and the lawsuit to a long-shot
Powerball ticket. Matsushita's total investment in the partnership was
$15 million.

The Radio Data Broadcast System allows pager information to be
distributed over existing FM airwaves without the need to build
additional antenna towers. Under RDBS technology, pager users can
receive stock quotes or other alphanumeric information. Under terms of
the partnership between the two companies, Matsushita agreed to design
and manufacture the pagers while Axcess Global committed to lease and
maintain a network of FM transmission stations. Matsushita executives
also promised to finance the network and advertise the pagers, according
to the plaintiff.

Hackerman said in opening statements that Matsushita crushed Axcess in
an attempt to stifle competition and failed to deliver promised
financing. Matsushita forced Axcess into an 11-state rollout of the
technology even though executives of the Japanese company had predicted
the move would bankrupt Axcess, Hackerman said. And even though
Matsushita's own consultants estimated the cost of setting up the
network at $5 million, the company loaned Axcess only $3.5 million, he
said. "They knew exactly what was going to happen ... they waited for
Axcess to go belly-up," Hackerman said.

Matsushita's advertising campaign also failed to live up to its
promises. And once Matsushita scrapped the project, it refused to give
Axcess the pagers it had manufactured or the technology, Hackerman said.
"They knew the problem was with their product, the pager," he said,
adding, "If the technology won't work, why won't they give it back?"

But Kohnke said the RDBS standards had long been available to the
public, and that Adams merely had been the first to apply it to paging.
He said Axcess had entered into a failed earlier agreement with another
manufacturer, Spartan, who also still had the technology. "If (the
technology) was good, (Spartan) already owns it, they'd make (pagers)."

Spartan and Matsushita both abandoned the RDBS technology because it
resulted in poor information reception and a low battery life for
pagers, Kohnke said. Matsushita abided by the contract which allowed it
to pull out if the pagers did not sell, he said.

Kohnke said the $3.5 million Matsushita loaned to Axcess never was
intended to cover the entire cost of setting up the network. The money
was just to cover startup costs, and it was Axcess's responsibility to
pay for operating costs. He also pointed the finger at Adams for
mismanagement, claiming Adams had used part of the $3.5 million to pay
for gambling, a new car, personal income tax debt and a $100,000 loan to
a relative. Matsushita has sued Axcess for non-repayment of the loan.

On Thursday, jurors heard videotaped testimony from top Matsushita
executives involved in the deal. The case adjourned for the weekend
Thursday. Axcess executives Goux and Adams are expected to testify soon
in what is expected to be a lengthy trial.