HOUSTON - The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System is suing a New Mexico woman over ownership rights to certain software programs.
A lawsuit filed Dec. 18 in the Houston Division of the Southern District of Texas counters Albuquerque, N.M., resident and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center employee Rachael Frija's claims to the materials in question.
Frija is working for M.D. Anderson as a member of its Clinical Research Finance team despite living 840 miles away from Houston, due in part to an out-of-state telecommuting agreement executed sometime in 2009.
Court papers show her counsel wrote the hospital last month announcing "she had created and had retained certain copyright ownership rights in various 'software programs'," adding the same letter stated she could revoke the complainant's access "unless certain demands of the defendant were met."
According to the original petition, M.D. Anderson provided the resources used in the creation or modification of the disputed software.
It insists Frija seeks to "cause confusion and uncertainty with respect to M.D. Anderson's ability to make full use of its ongoing rights in such property without undue harassment from third parties."
A jury trial is requested.
Attorney Paul Morico of Baker Botts L.L.P. in Houston is representing the plaintiff.
Case No. 4:13-CV-3691
UT System Board of Regents, M.D. Anderson employee battle over software ownership
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