The US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia* on 20 March 2014 cleared Leif Hauge and his energy-recovery device company Isobarix of contempt of court in a case brought by Energy Recovery Inc (ERI).
An injunction against Hauge enjoining him and Isobarix “from manufacturing and selling pressure exchangers and replacement parts for ERI’s pressure exchangers” was also lifted.
The decision reversed a court finding of contempt in June 2013, after ERI had complained that Hauge and Isobarix had ignored a 2001 court order that followed Hauge’s departure from ERI. The order related to the transfer of patents, intellectual property and other rights relating to pressure-exchanger technology for energy recovery in reverse-osmosis desalination.
The appeal hearing found that “while it (Hauge’s conduct) might constitute trade secret misappropriation, that would not justify a finding of contempt in this case.”
*Case: 13-1515 Document: 38-2