Arbitration Clause Not Broad Enough To Encompass Claims, Kansas Federal Judge Rules

TOPEKA, Kan. — A Kansas federal judge has refused to compel arbitration of an intellectual property/trade secret dispute, finding the arbitration clause in the parties’ supply agreements was not broad enough to encompass the claims, which arise from the parties’ stock purchase agreement.

On March 12, Judge Carlos Murguia of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas further found the supply agreements containing the arbitration clause do not sufficiently relate to the stock purchase agreement.

In early 2000, Germains Seed Technology entered into a stock purchase agreement pursuant to which it bought all of Seed Technologies Systems’s stock. …