• Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, October 13, 2010 8:24 AM

Red Bull is suspending a plan to sponsor a 20-mile-plus leap from space by a man equipped with a parachute because of legal action claiming that it stole the idea. The lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, alleges that Red Bull defrauded Daniel Hogan and a group of associates by using his technical ideas for the jump as well as by adopting his plans to generate publicity and create marketing buzz.

"This was my idea, from start to finish," Hogan tells Andy Pasztor. "The goal from the start," he said, was "how to make the most of this awesome event" from a marketing standpoint.

Red Bull announced in January that it was sponsoring a dive later this year by parachutist Felix Baumgartner from a gondola lofted by a balloon. The stunt, which was to be chronicled in a 90-minute documentary by the BBC and National Geographic, would break a 50-year-old record of 102,000 feet held by a former Air Force test pilot. A Red Bull spokeswoman says the company "has acted appropriately in its prior dealings with Mr. Hogan, and will demonstrate this as the case progresses."

Read the whole story at Wall Street Journal »