Fortescue and its former employees have been urged to progress a dispute over alleged misuse of the Andrew Forrest-led company’s green iron technology information.
Fortescue and its former employees have been urged to progress a dispute over alleged misuse of the Andrew Forrest-led company’s green iron technology information.
A hearing over the discovery of documents in the legal action between Fortescue Limited and start-up Element Zero continued in the Federal Court of Australia today.
Fortescue sued Element Zero and its founders, alleging they used the confidential information discovered during their employment at the company.
The Element Zero parties have denied the allegations of intellectual property misuse, having previously told the court that the ionic liquid process developed at Fortescue was different to their pilot plant.
Lawyers for the parties have been tangled in a lengthy discussion over the evidence to be submitted to court, with counsel for Element Zero seeking documents relating to the ionic liquid or electrochemical reduction process to be produced.
Counsel for Fortescue also applied for all documents relating to the green technology process during the respondents' entire period of employment.
But in court, Federal Court judge Brigitte Markovic was frustrated with the disagreement about the documents, questioning the lawyers on why there was still a dispute on discovery.
Justice Markovic said there must be progress for the matter to go to trial.
“If I have to force the parties to come to me tomorrow morning with their diary and work back from there, I will,” she told the court.
“The way these proceedings are running… parties will be dealing with discovery for five or six months, it should already be done.
“We might be on the fifth amended statement of claim by the time we go to trial. I hope not.”
Element Zero was founded by former Fortescue Metals Group chief scientist Bartlomiej Kolodziejczyk and former Fortescue Future Industries chief financial officer Michael Masterman last year.
In April 2024, Fortescue sued Dr Kolodziejczyk, Mr Masterman and former Fortescue Metals’ technology development lead Bjorn Winther-Jensen in the Federal Court’s New South Wales registry.
Fortescue alleged Dr Kolodziejczyk and Dr Winther-Jensen used the information gained during their employment at the company to set up Element Zero.
Dr Kolodziejczyk and Dr Winther-Jensen resigned from FFI in November 2021. Mr Masterman left the company in mid-2022.
Fortescue applied and received approval to search and seize devices and electronic data held by Dr Kolodziejczyk and Dr Winther-Jensen from three premises, including Element Zero’s Malaga office.
The Element Zero parties applied to have the search orders set aside but Justice Markovic upheld the orders in November.
Dr Kolodziejczyk and Mr Masterman has claimed Fortescue overstated its case and undertook excessive and unnecessary intrusive surveillance, while denying misuse of information without their former employer’s consent.
In a previous hearing, the court was 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.
Element Zero has also 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.
