In August of this year Dutch firm Spyker filed a $3 billion lawsuit against General Motors in a U.S. District Court in Michigan, alleging the American auto giant had deliberately forced Spyker-owned Saab into bankruptcy by blocking a planned stake purchase by Chinese investor Youngman.

GM was given several weeks to consider a response, and on Friday it came out with the announcement it would be seeking a motion to dismiss the case.  

Spyker has now announced that it will oppose the motion to dismiss the case.

Spyker’s original lawsuit alleges GM interfered in the deal with Youngman by claiming it would no longer license its technology to build cars for the Saab brand, namely the 9-5 and 9-4X models, even though a previous agreement was structured to exclude the U.S. automaker's intellectual property.

GM said doing so would run counter to the interests of its own shareholders regardless of whether or not the intellectual property was involved, Reuters reports. GM argues that under its original Vehicle Supply Agreement (VSA) and Automotive Technology License Agreement (ATLA), it had the right to terminate both deals should there be a change in the control of Saab, which would have occurred had Youngman been allowed to buy a proposed 20 percent stake in the Swedish automaker.

Assuming courts allow GM’s motion to be processed, Spyker's lawyers will be in court on November 9 to oppose the motion to dismiss the case.

Stay tuned for an update.