In 2003, Final Analysis Communication Services, a small Greenbelt satellite company, filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Falls Church, Va., defense giant General Dynamics Corp. Final Analysis won a $129.9 million judgment in 2005 after a jury trial; last year, a federal judge reduced the award to $11.9 million.

The case is tied up in court, as Final Analysis appealed the reduction. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has not yet issued its verdict.

In another twist, Final Analysis filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month in a Greenbelt federal court. The company listed assets of more than $100 million, related to the General Dynamics judgment, and listed liabilities of between $1 million and $100 million.

Final Analysis formed in 1993 to build a low-Earth orbiting satellite system for global wireless data services. The company contracted with General Dynamics to help build the system, but several years ago, the larger company ‘‘walked off the job” and Final Analysis later lost its license to operate the satellite system, Final Analysis officials said in court documents.

A Final Analysis official declined to comment this week on the case.

Another small company that has used the courts to fight a larger firm is J. Cooper and Associates, an advertising and public relations company started by Rockville resident Joseph Cooper. The firm once had $3 million in annual sales and 22 employees.

Cooper started the company in 1987 and steadily built the business after joining the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program that assists small minority-owned companies.

In 1995, Cooper obtained a contract from the federal immigration service — a deal worth $8 million over five years, he said — to conduct an advertising campaign to help recruit Border Patrol agents and other employees. But the agency later awarded the work to much larger companies, including Bernard Hodes Group and J. Walter Thompson Co., which were not small businesses that qualified for the awards under the program, Cooper said.

In 1997, Cooper sued in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims against the immigration service. The court dismissed the action, and Cooper appealed to a federal appeals court, which affirmed the lower court’s decision. In 2003, he filed a federal lawsuit against Hodes, Thompson and Cass Communications Inc.; that suit was also dismissed.

While his legal options appear to have been exhausted, Cooper is trying to get some relief with the help of lawmakers such as Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington. He remains optimistic some changes will be made in the way the SBA program works.

‘‘If it hadn’t been for the courts, I wouldn’t have had a chance at getting my side heard in public,” Cooper said.