Owning the core technology or VDL the company means nothing in this case because the inventor/owner (Nick through VDL) sold away the exclusive rights that matter with respect to applying the technology to the area of MMJ; as purchaser of those rights, Abattis now owns exclusive rights to use and sub-license vertical growing technology for uses involving pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, cosmetics and wellness i.e. medical marijuana, and by now it should seem clear that Abattis is 1) unwilling to provide Nick a license to his own technology and 2) that Affinor will absolutely 100% be sued if/when Nick tries to use the technology he sold to Abattis for more than just strawberries.