Family business wins Corus fight

Qual-Chem worked for Corus at Port Talbot until 2002

A family company has won a legal fight against multinational steel firm Corus.

The Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that Corus infringed a valid patent owned by Qual-Chem, of Port Talbot, the town which houses a major steel plant.

It brought the case against the firm owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, with former managing director Keith Harris saying he stood to lose everything.

Corus said it could not comment as the issue of compensation and costs had not been finalised.

But Corus said it would not affect its production at Port Talbot.

The patent was for a manufacturing process that Qual-Chem claimed had significant benefits for the global steelmaker and was used at Port Talbot for at least a four-year period.

The ruling has left Corus with a liability to pay compensation and a legal bill of over £1m.

The case centered on an invention by Qual-Chem which it said improved and cut the cost of manufacturing high-quality steel made by Corus.

Qual-Chem said in 2002 it had all its contracts cancelled after Corus requested it taught a third party the process.

Had Corus won this long and complex legal fight my family would have lost everything we'd ever worked for Keith Harris

At the time Qual-Chem employed some eight staff and managers.

At the Patents County Court, it was ruled by Judge Michael Fysh QC that the family firm's patent was infringed by Corus.

The Court of Appeal has now unanimously agreed with that ruling.

Mr Harris, of Mayals, Swansea, said: "This is a huge victory for us. We're delighted by the judgment.

"The court below and the Court of Appeal rejected every single point taken by Corus and agreed that we had invented and patented a process and that this patent had then been infringed.

"Corus used it for almost four years without paying us a penny but making substantial savings for themselves.

"In the meantime, they dispensed with our services and - as they were our key client - this was a major factor in Qual-Chem ceasing to trade.

"Our hearts still go out to our excellent employees who lost their jobs.

"Corus refused to recognise our intellectual property rights and so forcing us to take our grievance through the courts.

"Had Corus won this long and complex legal fight my family would have lost everything we'd ever worked for."

Interim payment

His solicitor, Hugh Hitchcock, of Swansea firm Douglas-Jones Mercer, said: "For him and his family it has been an incredibly tough five years but I hope they can now get on with living their lives once the issue of compensation is properly resolved."

Among the points raised by Corus in its defence was that involvement of its staff in trials meant the patent had not been confidential.

Corus also claimed that previous patents and public knowledge rendered the Qual-Chem patent obvious and invalid.

Corus has been ordered to make an interim payment of £550,000 towards Qual-Chem's legal costs.

A Corus spokesman said: "This has been a commercial dispute between us and a former supplier at Port Talbot.

"We cannot comment, since the dispute - specifically the compensation and costs issue - is not finalised."

He said the process was no longer used at the plant in Port Talbot and the ruling would have no affect on production at that site or any others.