The High Court has ordered 28 medical consultants to surrender copies of a medical management software program which infringe a certain copyright. That copyright relates to a program developed by a company which claims to be the State's leading provider of such software.

Medicom Medical Computer Solutions, which operates from Parkwest, Dublin, had claimed that former employee Mr Nigel Walsh, trading as HardData, Killenarden Enterprise Park, Tallaght, Dublin, had access to Medicom Dynamic software while working with the firm.

Medicom alleged it discovered that Mr Walsh had been infringing the copyright of Medicom Dynamic by selling a medical management product known as Prodigium software. Medicom said this was created by a "direct unauthorised copying" of Medicom's Dynamic software.

By agreement between the parties yesterday, Mr Justice Kelly, sitting in the Commercial Court division of the High Court, granted Medicom an injunction restraining Mr Walsh from infringing the Dynamic software system.

Mr Walsh was also told to deliver a full account of profits from the sale or licence of the infringing copies. He was also ordered to disclose all the names and addresses of individuals, firms or companies to which he supplied the offending software.

The court also ordered that all infringing copies of Mr Walsh's software, including such copies in possession of Mr Walsh's customers, should be handed up.

Mr Justice Kelly also noted an undertaking on behalf of Mr Walsh and his wife that they would not dispose of their family home pending a final order in the case.

Mr Cian Ferriter, for Medicom, said he understood that infringing software was to be retrieved from the computers of 28 named consultants in the presence of a Medicom technician.

In an affidavit, Medicom chief executive Mr Howard Beggs said they discovered that Mr Walsh was selling a rival medical practice management system called Prodigium, which was directly based on the Dynamic system and which had been created by means of superficial modifications of a direct copy of the Dynamic Consultant system.

He alleged Mr Walsh sold his product at less than half the price of the Medicom product and a number of Medicom clients had changed over to Mr Walsh and his Prodigium product.

Mr Justice Kelly listed the matter for further consideration on Thursday next.