Ex-Fortescue employees claimed there were differences between their startup’s green iron technology and the Andrew Forrest-led company’s, in an ongoing dispute over copyright.
Former Fortescue employees claimed there were differences between their startup’s green iron technology and the Andrew Forrest-led company’s, in an ongoing legal battle over copyright.
A dispute between Fortescue Future Industries and Element Zero today continued in the Federal Court of Australia’s New South Wales registry.
Element Zero was launched by former Fortescue Metals Group chief scientist Bartlomiej Kolodziejczyk and former FFI chief financial officer Michael Masterman in early 2024.
FFI sued Dr Kolodziejczyk, Mr Masterman and former Fortescue Metals’ technology development lead Bjorn Winther-Jensen in the Federal Court in April 2024.
Fortescue alleged information gained during Dr Kolodziejczyk and Dr Winther-Jensen's employment at the company was used to set up Element Zero.
Dr Kolodziejczyk and Dr Winther-Jensen resigned from FFI in November 2021 while Mr Masterman left in mid-2022.
Both Fortescue and Element Zero have applied for documents relating to ionic liquid to be submitted to court, including research and development undertaken from March 2019 until November 2021.
The Element Zero parties claimed the ionic liquid process developed at Fortescue was limited to a temperature below 100 degrees.
Element Zero parties sought to delete the words relating to ionic liquid or electrochemical reduction process from the court documents, which Fortescue opposed to, Fortescue’s lawyer Julian Cooke today told the court.
“The issue and dispute on this interlocutory application is the meaning of the words ‘ionic liquid electrolytes’,” he said.
“Our position is that those words objected to, the definition of ionic liquid, which indicates that there's no temperature limitation on ionic liquids, is a natural meaning, or is the meaning of the phrase ‘ionic liquid electrolytes’ …[in] our amended statement of claim.
“Whereas the respondents’ position is that that should be limited to a temperature which is below 100 degrees Celsius.”
The Federal Court granted Fortescue’s application to search Element Zero's premises in May.
Fortescue’s private investigator seized devices and electronic data held by Dr Kolodziejczyk and Dr Winther-Jensen from three premises, including Element Zero’s Malaga office.
Despite Dr Kolodziejczyk and Mr Masterman applying to have the search orders set aside and their belongings returned, Federal Court judge Brigitte Markovic upheld the search orders in November.
Dr Kolodziejczyk and Mr Masterman claimed Fortescue overstated its case and undertook excessive and unnecessary intrusive surveillance, while denying misuse of information without their former employer’s consent.
FFI has since submitted a list of documents sought from the Element Zero parties, including all documents recording work involving electrochemical reduction process with ionic liquid done by Dr Kolodziejczyk and Dr Winther-Jensen during their employment at Fortescue.
Other documents sought include drawings, designs of a pilot plant, iron ore reports, and technical evaluations, and drafts of Element Zero’s trial plant.
The court was previously told that Mr Masterman had a meeting with three Fortescue employees in January 2024, where the parties discussed the technology and a future commercial relationship between the two companies.
In its application, Element Zero has applied for Fortescue to produce all documents and records of their meetings from April 2023 and January 2024, including consideration of information disclosed about the technology developed by the start-up.
A judgment delivered by Justice Markovic in November revealed Dr Winther-Jensen stopped working at Element Zero by December 2023.
