University Involvement

Subsequent to Táborský's filing his patent application, Dr. Carnahan swore in a criminal affidavit that Táborský had stolen over 32 trade secrets from the University of South Florida.

In September 1989, eight months after Táborský's patent application was filed, Dr. Carnahan, on behalf of the University of South Florida and Florida Progress, filed his own patent application, claiming Táborský's invention as his own. The University then appealed to the U.S. Patent Office to request interference with Táborský's application and advised them that they had filed criminal charges against the inventor.

In Petr Táborský's criminal trial, prosecutors told the jury that Táborský had invented nothing and was merely assisting Dr. Carnahan in his research. One of the prosecutors in the case said to the jury, “The only thing Petr Táborský invented is the story he told you.” However, the U.S. Patent Office sided with Táborský and awarded him the patent on the invention and dismissed Carnahan's application. The USPTO found that Carnahan's patent application was baseless and reflected no knowledge of the details or workings of the innovation.

In early 1990, Táborský was convicted of second degree grand theft and theft of trade secrets. However, USF witnesses presented testimony and documents during the trial that have since been refuted through civil discovery and by advocates of Táborský. USF's claims of inventorship were completely refuted by the Patent Office's determination that Petr Táborský was the sole inventor of the invention in question.

Additionally, the Florida Progress confidentiality agreement signed by Dr. Carnahan is questionable. The form itself was revised by the company in September 1988, yet Carnahan listed a date of July 1988 beside his signature. How could he have signed a form three months prior to its creation? Oddly, he also failed to include any indication of the specific day in July. Further, the USF Police Department did not find this form during their investigation conducted in late 1989.

Based on the dubious confidentiality document, questionable handling of project funds and erroneous claims that he had discovered Táborský's innovation, Carnahan would have been a witness with little credibility. But USF managed to keep these issues hidden from the jury. The USF police report was also withheld from the trial, as was USF's own Policy Manual, which would have revealed that they were bound to protect Táborský and his intellectual property, which they were clearly not.

Táborský was sentenced to one year of house arrest plus 15 years probation and was ordered to turn over all of his research materials to the University of South Florida. He did relinquish his notebooks as required.

Whatever motivated the University of South Florida to pursue criminal charges against their student, it was certainly excessive. In a letter, then University of South Florida President Francis Borkowski encouraged the judge to sentence Táborský to jail time, stating that “the sad fact is he is beyond rehabilitation” and that his actions threatened the good relationship USF enjoyed with its corporate sponsors.

It is not clear whether the University initiated criminal proceedings to reassure their corporate sponsors, intimidate Táborský or to bolster the interference case USF had filed with the U.S. Patent Office, but it was certainly excessive, no matter the motivation. Even subsequent USF General Counsel Henry Lavendera agreed the University's actions were extreme saying, “I would have made an attempt to resolve the dispute short of going to a criminal process. The university could have asked a civil-court judge for an injunction preventing Táborský from patenting the process.”