Oct 2009 Financial News

Analyst claims ownership of bill payment system as Paymaster vs Grace trial ends

Oct 22, 2009

SOFTWARE analyst Paul Lowe on Tuesday maintained that the multiple-bill payment system over which he and GraceKennedy have been slapped with a billion-dollar lawsuit by Paymaster is his.

Lowe testified in the Supreme Court that there was no discussion or agreement for ownership rights of the software to go to Paymaster.

Lowe had developed the programme on instruction from Paymaster. Lowe, however, told the court that the specifications given were not sufficient and that he had to use his expertise and experience to make a complete product.

The software analyst further told the court that after the programme was developed he was approached by Paymaster, who wanted to purchase from him the source codes in order to upgrade the system without his assistance.
However, the source codes were not sold to Paymaster.

Lowe subsequently sold the programme to GraceKennedy, which in 2000 launched Bill Express, a subsidiary that competes directly with Paymaster in the bill payment market.

Paymaster's boss Audrey Marks is suing both GraceKennedy and Lowe for $1.7 billion for copyright infringement of her business plan and the computer programme.

Marks is claiming that this infringement has caused her millions of dollars in losses.

She was the first to implement the bill payment model using state-of-the-art technology back in 1997.

The trial came to an end on Tuesday. Both sides were instructed to make written submissions on the matter of liability, which they are to submit to the registrar of the Supreme Court by next week Wednesday. Judgement is expected to be reserved then.

- Paul Henry


Source:
Jamaica Observer
Thursday, October 22, 2009

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20091021T190000-0500_162231_OBS_ANALYST_CLAIMS_OWNERSHIP_OF_BILL_PAYMENT_SYSTEM_AS_PAYMASTER_VS_GRACE_TRIAL_ENDS.asp#