A purchaser of a patent within liquidation proceedings of a company receives the patent free and clear of rights of third parties

After signing a confidentiality agreement, an inventor presented an idea to a company. The same company registered a patent on the idea and after years went into insolvency and the patent was sold as part of the liquidation proceedings in a sale approved by the liquidation Court.
The Court held that the purchaser of the patent purchased it free and clear of any third party rights, including the contention that the patent was stolen. When an asset is sold in liquidation proceedings, in good faith and against consideration, the ownership interest passes to the purchaser, free and clear of prior rights. This protection applies not only to tangible assets but also to patents, and therefore the claim was rejected.