Millionaires’ divorce spat spawns copyright win

The England & Wales High Court has a settled a copyright dispute between a multi-millionaire estranged couple who are fighting more than 40 lawsuits.

Ikos Asset Management co-founder Elena Ambrosiadou disputed claims by ex-husband Martin Coward, a former Ikos employee, that he owned computer software underpinning the company’s successful quant trading platform.

The court confirmed that Coward did write the original software code but said he did so as an Ikos employee, meaning that the Cyprus-based investment management company owns the copyright.

Mrs Justice Asplin, at the High Court, said it was unclear that Coward had solely written the code, adding that parts of it were incorporated with code written by other employees.

According to The Telegraph, Ambrosiadou said: “This ruling vindicates Ikos’ defence of its lawful rights to its IP.”

Bloomberg reports that Coward’s legal team said “Coward is gratified that the judge found that he had written the software that he claimed to have written”, and he is considering whether to appeal.

A separate hearing will decide damages in the case.

Before the ruling, Ikos dropped claims that Coward had copied the software and used it at a hedge fund company he started in Monaco.

There have been a few other IP disputes – mainly trademarks and patents – covering hedge funds in the UK, said Mark Owen, partner at Taylor Wessing LLP in London, who added that there are not many UK software copyright disputes in general.

Commenting on the case, Owen said: “It sounds like if there had been clearer contracts, none of this would have happened. Most ownership disputes arise because there is no correct contract in place.”