June 6 (Reuters) - Fortescue (FMG.AX) New Tab, opens new tab has sued two of its former scientists and a former finance head alleging "misuse" of confidential information regarding the miner's green iron ore technology, a judgement by the Federal Court of Australia showed on Wednesday.

The world's fourth-largest iron ore miner accused scientists Bart Kolodziejczyk and Bjorn Winther-Jensen of copying what the miner claims is confidential information regarding its green iron ore technology and taking it to their startup Element Zero after the two left Fortescue.

The miner also named Michael Masterman, who departed as the chief financial officer of Fortescue's green energy arm in mid-2022 and later co-founded Element Zero with Kolodziejczyk, as one of the respondents in the lawsuit.

Fortescue alleged that Kolodziejczyk and Winther-Jensen used the copied technology in the designing and engineering of an industrial pilot plant and sought search orders at the startup's two offices in Western Australia and one in Victoria, the judgement showed.

"As a first mover, our intellectual property is critical to our ongoing success in this pursuit and must be protected at all times," Fortescue said in an email to Reuters, but declined to comment further saying the matter was sub-judice.

Element Zero did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

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https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/miner-fortescue-sues-former-unit-cfo-scientists-alleging-green-technology-breach-2024-06-06/