Texas Attorneys Avoid Lawsuit Over Gas-Technology Settlement

The estate of an inventor’s widow lost an appeal of an arbitration award for the law firm that helped the family receive a $800,000 settlement over technology for recycling rubber tires, after the court found no evidence of foul play, according to a Texas appeals court ruling Thursday.

Michael Wilwerding invented a process that turned old rubber tires into hydrocarbon gas and solvent. Michael Wilwerding shared his intellectual property with several companies in Texas through licensing agreements, the Texas Appeals Court, Fourteenth District, said.

After the end of the license agreements, they allegedly filed several patent applications based on Wilwerding’s ...