Federal Court dismisses Fortescue and Element Zero’s two-year legal battle
Fortescue’s (ASX: FMG) long-running legal pursuit of three former employees who created rival green iron start-up, Element Zero, has come to an end with both parties agreeing to pay their own legal costs. Pursuant to confidential terms of settlement, the Federal Court dismissed the claims against Element Zero and its co-founders Michael Masterman, Bart Kolodziejczyk and Bjorn Winther-Jensen. In April last year, Fortescue alleged that trade secrets were stolen and confidential information was misused by the former employees to develop Element Zero’s patented technology — marking the beginning of a nearly two-year-long legal battle. In 2021, Dr Kolodziejczyk and Dr Winther-Jensen, were employed by Fortescue, as chief scientist and technology development lead respectively, where they led and undertook research and…