Prosyscor Ltd v Netsweeper Inc & Ors

Prosyscor Ltd v Netsweeper Inc & Ors

Mr Kite's inventive contributions, including the claim 1 inventive concept, were made in the course of his normal duties as an employee of Netsweeper, and thus ownership of the PCT Application and derived applications belongs to Netsweeper. No breach of the Confidentiality Agreement was established as no confidential information was proven to have been misused.

Parties
Claimant: Prosyscor Limited; Defendant: Netsweeper Inc.; Defendant: Netsweeper (Barbados) Inc.; Defendant: Jeremy Erb
Jurisdiction
England and Wales
Judgment Date
22 May 2019
Procedural Posture
Intellectual Property (patent Entitlement) / Judgment After Trial
Outcome
Claim dismissed; ownership of the PCT Application and derived applications confirmed for Netsweeper; no breach of confidence found.
Legal Topics
Patent Entitlement, Inventorship, Employee Inventions, Breach of Confidence, Ownership of Inventions
Intellectual Property Employment Law Contract Law Patent Entitlement Inventorship Employee Inventions Breach of Confidence Ownership of Inventions

Case Brief

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Parties

Prosyscor Limited

Claimant

Netsweeper Inc.

Defendant

Netsweeper (Barbados) Inc.

Defendant

Jeremy Erb

Defendant

Procedural Posture

Intellectual Property (patent Entitlement) / Judgment After Trial

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Who devised the inventive concepts in the PCT Application?
  2. 2 Were the inventive concepts devised by Mr Kite made in the course of his normal duties as an employee of Netsweeper?
  3. 3 Did the Ancillary Agreement of 6 January 2009 govern rights to the invention after Mr Kite's employment?

Ratio Decidendi

Mr Kite's inventive contributions, including the claim 1 inventive concept, were made in the course of his normal duties as an employee of Netsweeper, and thus ownership of the PCT Application and derived applications belongs to Netsweeper. No breach of the Confidentiality Agreement was established as no confidential information was proven to have been misused.

Court Disposition

Claim dismissed; ownership of the PCT Application and derived applications confirmed for Netsweeper; no breach of confidence found.

Orders

  • Netsweeper is entitled to ownership of the PCT Application and all applications derived from it.
  • No breach of the Confidentiality Agreement by Netsweeper.