Dampier

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This case arises from a dispute over the purported transfer of property rights in solar powered energy system technology. Plaintiffs‘ initial June 2009 complaint stated a single cause of action for declaratory relief against SETC. The complaint alleged that in March 2006, plaintiffs and Ronald Derby executed an assignment and transfer agreement transferring their intellectual property rights for the technology to an entity named Cenicom Solar Energy, LLC (Cenicom). Derby signed the agreement on behalf of Cenicom. In January 2008, SETC, described as ―a Delaware corporation doing business in the . . . State of New York,‖ allegedly asserted, ―‗Cenicom transferred to . . . [SETC] all of its intellectual property rights to the . . . solar energy system, including [Plaintiffs‘] assignments of future intellectual property and technical

2 knowledge, in a Know-How Transfer agreement,‘‖ and that SETC ―purport[edly is] a successor entity of Cenicom.‖ Plaintiffs sought a ―declaration that . . . SETC has acquired no rights with respect to the . . . 2006 ‗Assignment and Transfer Agreement,‘‖ including any ―‗[f]uture [d]evelopments.‘‖ The trial court granted…