Intellectual Property and Litigation

Challenge: The intellectual property of EPS’s client, an advanced coating technology, was alleged to have been misappropriated by a former customer, a Fortune 500 industrial manufacturer.

Solution: EPS investigated and validated the client's claim of trade secret misappropriation, conducted a comprehensive valuation of the intellectual property, and calculated the total economic damages, which included lost sales and breach of contract damages.

Result: The multiyear litigation resulted in a jury award of $190 million for EPS’s client.

Challenge: A technology company developed a coal gasification process and transferred ownership to a major energy corporation, which subsequently failed to remit the agreed-upon license fees, leading to financial disputes and losses for the original developer.

Solution: EPS provided an expert valuation of the intellectual property and conducted a thorough analysis of licensing agreements to quantify the unpaid royalties. EPS also uncovered concealed assignments and discrepancies in reported revenues.

Result: EPS's findings supported the technology company in pursuing compensation, highlighting the extent of unpaid royalties and ensuring clarity in the valuation of the intellectual property assets.

Challenge: Two energy development firms were in dispute over the valuation of wind project assets and alleged misappropriation of trade secrets involving wind data.

Solution: EPS investigated wind energy project development assets, assessed the contractual obligations under an asset purchase agreement, examined the claims of trade secret misappropriation, and appraised the financial impacts of the contracts and corresponding breaches.

Result: EPS's expert renewable energy analysis clarified asset ownership and appraised the financial value owed for the use of the project assets. This facilitated the rightful owner to secure compensation and successfully counter unsupported claims from the opposing party.

Challenge: A solar energy technology company faced allegations of trade secret misappropriation related to proprietary solar panel technologies, with conflicting narratives around the value and confidentiality of the claimed information.

Solution: EPS conducted an in-depth forensic investigation, analyzing whether the designated documents met trade secret criteria and appraising the economic value of the alleged misappropriated technologies.

Result: EPS demonstrated that the purported trade secrets were largely obsolete, publicly known, or lacked independent economic value, significantly weakening the claimant's case. This contributed to a favorable arbitration outcome by effectively disputing and vast dismissal of the $34 million in claims.

Challenge: A global energy firm faced significant discrepancies in the valuation of their first-of-a-kind IsoAlky Retrofit Project by a taxing authority, which did not account for atypical costs associated with the pioneering energy technology.

Solution: EPS conducted a detailed technical assessment and financial appraisal of the first-of-a-kind technology, distinguishing typical from atypical expenses in the $560 million construction, and applied fair market value principles to establish the correct valuation.

Result: EPS’s analysis demonstrated the proper taxable value of the construction work in progress (CWIP), significantly reducing the client's ad valorem assessment by correcting the inflated valuation initially set by the taxing authority.

Challenge: A renewable municipal waste-to-energy technology and equipment provider faced allegations of design defects, including faulty equipment, poor operational controls, unwanted byproducts, and inconsistent environmental emissions.

Solution: EPS conducted a detailed engineering analysis of the technology and equipment to determine and confirm its superior performance while identifying severe issues with the owner’s equipment, processing out-of-specification waste materials, poor water treatment, and unreliable environmental controls.

Result: EPS determined the root causes of the owner’s operational issues, enabling effective operational changes and eliminating alleged rectification works and damages, thereby saving substantial costs for the technology provider and facility owner.

Challenge: A steel mill facility experienced chronic materials handling and operational issues, including a catastrophic collapse and shutdown during a severe snowstorm.

Solution: EPS conducted a thorough engineering and equipment maintenance assessment, including site inspections and an appraisal of the equipment and blast furnace operations.

Result: The evaluation determined negligible damages to the client, a controls and equipment supplier, providing a clear quantification of risks for the resolution of the dispute through impartial engineering and appraisal analysis.

Challenge: An energy technology developer encountered allegations of design defects and material and liquidated damages from a customer.

Solution: EPS conducted an in-depth forensic investigation of the gasifier technology, including engineering reviews and appraisals of the equipment value at different stages of its technology lifecycle.

Result: EPS provided expert testimony that demonstrated no evidence of the alleged defects, supporting a favorable resolution of approximately $70 million for the client and substantiation of the energy conversion technology’s continued fair market value.

Challenge: A renewable energy biomass cogeneration plant experienced operational deficiencies, including multiple fires, leading to disputes over the provided technology’s design and performance.

Solution: EPS conducted a forensic investigation, assessed the materials handling and quality, and evaluated the technology’s energy-generating performance.

Result: EPS’s forensic analysis established the absence of design deficiencies, demonstrated the contractual compliance of the technology, and identified the owner’s operational inefficiencies, thereby dismissing the litigation.

Challenge: A steel production facility experienced a catastrophic explosion in an oxygen-enriched atmosphere technology, resulting in the tragic deaths of two workers and serious injuries to another.

Solution: EPS conducted a forensic investigation detailing the failed components and performed an effective root cause analysis of the metallurgy and operating conditions, determining the origin and cause of the worker's injuries and deaths.

Result: The technology provider and associated defendants provided compensation to the estates of the deceased and injured workers.

Challenge: In 2020, an explosion at an industrial facility resulted in three deaths and damaged over 1000 properties in a significant radius of Houston neighborhoods.

Solution: EPS, leveraging its leading forensic methodologies, including advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD), quantified the effects of the explosion, including blast wave propagation through the neighborhoods.

Result: Immediately after the analysis was presented, EPS clients obtained a settlement of $52 million plus undisclosed amounts for approximately 2200 claimants for injuries and damages to their homes.

Challenge: A devastating explosion at a farm silo resulted in significant structural damage and loss of life, with renewable ethanol and fermentation-related causes suspected. However, critical production data and laboratory samples were not preserved by the owner, complicating the investigation.

Solution: EPS engineers performed forensic analyses, including debris mapping, blast force calculations, and process evaluations, to identify the origin and cause of the explosion. EPS’s investigation confirmed the presence of ethanol that had been improperly handled during the biofuel production supply chain.

Result: The investigation determined biofuel manufacturing operational missteps, key safety protocol violations, and destruction of data, resulting in a pre-trial award for the deceased’s family.