Fort v. Innegra Technologies, LLC (In re NMFC, LLC)

522 B.R. 869, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 179
United States Bankruptcy Court, D. South Carolina·Decided January 13, 2015·No. C/A No. 11-06800-JW; Adv. Pro. No. 13-80138-JW·Published

Opinion

Chapter 7

ORDER GRANTING INNEGRA TECHNOLOGIES, LLC’S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

JOHN E. WAITES, US Bankruptcy Judge

This matter comes before the Court on Defendant Innegra Technologies, LLC’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (“Motion”), which seeks dismissal of the Chapter 7 Trustee’s claim seeking a declaratory judgment that the Trustee is the sole owner of U.S. Patent Application No. 12/610,007 (“007 Application”), including the rights to the invention described in the Application and continuation Patent Applications No. 13/672,690 and 13/947,912. In-negra Technologies, LLC further seeks [871]*871summary judgment on its counterclaim seeking a declaratory judgment that it is the sole owner of the 007 Application. The Plaintiff, John K. Fort, Chapter 7 Trustee for NMFC, LLC (“Trustee”) filed a response in opposition to the Motion. Defendants Brian G. Morin and Dreamweaver International, Inc. did not file responses to the Motion and have not otherwise asserted ownership rights in the 007 Application. This Court has jurisdiction over this adversary proceeding under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1334(b) and 157(b)(1), as a proceeding arising in or related to the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case of NMFC, LLC.1 Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 52, which is made applicable to this adversary proceeding by Fed. R. Bankr. P. 7052, the Court makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:2

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. On May 19, 2004, Brian G. Morin (“Morin”) founded Innegrity, LLC, which is now known as NMFC, LLC (“Debtor”). Debtor was an advanced material company which was in the business of developing, manufacturing, and marketing composite fibers. Morin served as the founder, president and Chief Executive Officer of Debt- or, and was employed by Debtor from its inception. He was also the inventor of the melt-spun multifilament polyolefin yarn formation processes which were used by Debtor to manufacture composite fibers.

2. On November 5, 2004, Morin executed an Assignment of Worldwide Rights (“Original Patent Assignment”), which assigned to Debtor his “entire right, title, and interest in and to [the melt-spun mul-tifilament polyolefin yarn formation processes and yams formed therefrom] and [U.S. Patent Application No. 10/983,153], and all divisions, and continuations thereof, and all Letters Patent of the United States which may be granted thereon, and all reissues thereof, and all- rights to claim priority on the basis of such applications, and all applications for Letters Patent which may hereafter be filed for this invention in any foreign country, and all extensions, renewals, and reissues thereof....”

3.Morin entered into an Employment Agreement with Debtor which had an effective date of June 2008. The Employment Agreement provided that Debtor would pay Morin a base salary of $140,000 per year. Section 9(b) of the Employment Agreement provides, in pertinent part, that:

[Morin] covenants and agrees that all right, title and interest in any Protected Information shall be and shall remain the exclusive property of [Debtor], [Morin] agrees to assign, and automatically assign at the time of creation of the Protected Information, without any requirement of further consideration, any right, title or interest that [Morin] may have in such Protected Information.

“Protected Information” is defined in Section 9(a) of the Employment Agreement as:

[A]ll materials and information (whether or not reduced to writing and whether [872]*872or not patentable or protectable by copyright and whether or not of the [Debtor] or received by [Debtor] or [Morin] from a third party) which [Morin] receives, gains access to, conceives or develops or has received, gained access to, conceived or developed, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, in connection with [Morin]’s employment with [Debtor] or in the course of [Morinjs employment with [Debtor].

4. On April 15, 2009, Morin’s salary was reduced by Debtor by 15%.

5. Sometime between April 15, 2009 and October 30, 2009, during the course of his employment with Debtor, Morin conceived of and developed an invention described as “High Modulus Polyolefin Fibers Exhibiting Unique Microstructural Features,” a high-strength fiber that is primarily used for reinforcement of composite materials, but is also used for ropes and webbing.

6. This invention was the subject of U.S. Patent Application No. 12,610,007 (“007 Application”), filed with the U.S. Patent Office by William Parks (“Parks”), a patent attorney employed by Debtor, on October 30, 2009. Morin assisted Parks in the preparation of the 007 Application. Morin is listed as the Inventor on the 007 Application, and Innegrity, LLC is listed as the Assignee.3 The 007 Application indicates that it is a “continuation of application No. 11/458,530, filed on Jul. 19, 2006, which is a division of application No. 10/983,153, filed on November 5, 2004, now Pat. No. 7,074,483.”

7. Morin testified in his deposition that he refused Parks’ request that he execute an assignment at the time of the filing of the 007 Application on or before October 30, 2009. He also testified that, at that time, he was continuing to perform his duties in good faith with the expectation that his salary would be caught up and paid according to his employment contract and that he had no expectation that Debt- or would breach his employment contract at all or certainly to the extent that they did.

8. On November 2, 2009, Parks filed a corrective application with respect to the 007 Application to correct the original application’s reference to the patent being a divisional application4 when it was in fact a continuation-in-part,5 but did not change the Application’s listing of Debtor as the assignee.

9. A year after the filing of the 007 Application, on November 5, 2010, Morin [873]*873was terminated without cause by resolution of the Board of Directors of Debtor.

10. On December 14, 2010, Morin filed a complaint against Debtor in the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas, civil action number 2010-CP-23-10103 (“Morin State Court Action”), asserting claims for failure to pay wages, breach of employment agreement, breach of employment agreement accompanied by a fraudulent act, and specific performance.

11. On September 7, 2011, Debtor’s secured creditor, Branch Banking & Trust (“BB & T”) conducted a UCC sale (“BB & T Sale”) in which all assets of Debtor were sold to the successful bidder, Rampart Fibers,LLC.6 The Bill of Sale to Rampart Fibers, LLC, provides, in pertinent part, that the following intangible assets were transferred to Rampart Fibers, LLC in connection with the sale:

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Fort v. Innegra Technologies, LLC (In re NMFC, LLC), 522 B.R. 869, 2015 Bankr. LEXIS 179 (S.C. 2015).

522 B.R. 869 (Fort v. Innegra Technologies, LLC (In re NMFC, LLC)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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