The Federal Court has dismissed Fortescue's (ASX:FMG) application seeking an order for leave to inspect the "Listed Things" taken from respondents Element Zero, Bartlomiej Piotr Kolodziejczyk, and Bjorn Winther-Jensen, under earlier search orders made in May 2024 by the Federal Court, according to a Wednesday ruling by the Court.
Kolodziejczyk and Winther-Jensen were employed by Fortescue Future Industries to undertake confidential research and development work for reducing iron ore to metallic iron using renewable energy sources.
The company earlier alleged that it could not locate documents recording the work and inferred that Kolodziejczyk and Winther-Jensen took or caused the documents to be unavailable.
The Court has ordered the company to pay the respondents' legal costs.
In its reply to MT Newswires' emailed request for comment, a Fortescue spokesperson refused to comment as the matter is before the Court.
Shares of the company rose nearly 1% in recent Wednesday trade.