Aldrich Law Firm, Ltd.
Aldrich Law Firm, Ltd.

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Good People Deserve Good Lawyers. ®

Intellectual property dispute made over power station software

Las Vegas businesses are no strangers to lawsuits. Time and again, companies are tasked with the responsibility of defending their interests. When someone takes intellectual property that doesn’t belong to them, it can be the cause of a great loss to the organization that developed the product.

According to a recently published court order, a federal court mandated the seizure of a software developer’s computer hard drive after he became involved in an intellectual property dispute with his former employer.

The matter at heart centers around two separate software programs, one called Visdom, which is owned by the software developer, and the other named Sophia, which is owned by the developer’s former employer, Battelle.

Battelle claims that the developer previously worked on creating Sophia, a special project that was built to help defend against power station attacks. At some point, however, the developer started his own company and obtained the licensing rights to Sophia when Battelle was unable to commercialize the software.

Months later, Battelle became suspicious when the developer, who had left the company for an indeterminate amount of time to focus on his own professional endeavors, came out with Visdom. Battelle believes that Visdom is simply a copy of Sophia, so they filed a business litigation lawsuit seeking compensation for damages.

According to court documents, Battelle also believes that the developer’s actions could lead to national security issues and requested that the distribution of Visdom be halted. The court responded by restricting the distribution of both Visdom and Sophia for the time being, until the matter is sorted out.

In cases like these, turning to an experienced business litigation lawyer is one of the best ways to try and protect your rights if you feel that they have been violated.

Source: Bloomberg, “Battelle Sues Ex-Employee Over Power-Grid Security Software,” Victoria Slind-Flor, Oct. 16, 2013

John P. Aldrich
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