Oil and gas technology company Coretrack has secured ownership of a high-tech drilling rig after a legal battle with intellectual property licensor Strange Investments.
Warren Strange developed the GT3000 rig through his company Globe Drill, which he sold to Coretrack in 2010.
Mr Strange then joined the Coretrack board, but in 2013 withdrew the company’s licence to use the deep-hole drilling rig.
Coretrack took legal action over the termination last year, and yesterday’s Supreme Court result confirms that Coretrack is the owner of the rig.
Strange Investments can act only as a bailee to protect its intellectual property rights.
But there is still a further ruling being awaited on the lawfulness of the termination, and Coretrack has said it would ask the court to address the issue of costs.
Coretrack chairman Matt Birney said the bid by Strange Investments was somewhat opportunistic.
“We are pleased that the ownership of the GT3000 rig has now been settled,’’ he said.
“It is unfortunate that this matter even got to court but we are nonetheless pleased that the court has supported our position.”
In May, Coretrack announced it would be purchasing Queensland-based ceramic proppant manufacturer Ecopropp in a deal worth $17 million.
Proppants are used in hydraulic fracking to ensure flow from an induced fracture.
Coretrack was up 12.5 per cent on the news to 0.9 cents per share at the time of writing.
