Signage outside the General Electric Co. plant in Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg)

General Electric Co. and other entities that are being sued for $9 million in unpaid fees by the defunct IP boutique Kenyon & Kenyon have managed to trim down the case against them ahead of trial.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Andrea Masley cut two claims on Friday from Kenyon’s suit against GE, its ex-client SightSound Technologies and a company GE established to fund litigation to enforce SightSound’s file-transfer patents.

The decision sets the stage for the parties to argue over what evidence can be used at an eventual trial in the five-year-old lawsuit.

Kenyon—whose lawyers in 2016 joined Andrews Kurth, which later become Hunton Andrews Kurth—said it is owed $9 million by SightSound for legal fees and interest related to its suits against Napster and other alleged infringers of its patents. Kenyon argued that DMT Licensing, which GE set up to fund SightSound’s suits in exchange for part of the recovery, jumped in line to receive proceeds when Napster paid $3 million to settle.

But the defendants said DMT’s 2005 asset purchase agreement with SightSound gave them the right to keep the settlement for themselves, having paid at least $6 million to litigate the underlying patent infringement claims. The defendants said Kenyon even acknowledged the agreement between DMT and SightSound—and its provision that made DMT’s recouping of its litigation costs the top priority—in a consent agreement it struck with them shortly afterward.

In her ruling Friday on a summary judgment motion, Masley said it was undisputed that the Napster money was paid to GE and commingled with other GE funds, which means Kenyon’s conversion claim must be dismissed. Another challenged leg of Kenyon’s lawsuit, for unjust enrichment, was thrown out against DMT but sustained against GE because DMT had a contract with Kenyon and GE didn’t.

The judge refused to dismiss a fraudulent-conveyance claim against the defendants, however.

“Here, an issue of fact exists as to what the parties agreed to in the consent agreement and subsequent agreements,” she wrote. “Defendants advance numerous arguments to show that Kenyon agreed to the APA and specifically to DMT’s right to determine how to distribute revenue. … However, none of these arguments are conclusive.”

Ice Miller partner Lewis DeLucia and Schiff Hardin associate Matthew Brocollo, who were listed as Kenyon’s lawyers, and Robinson Cole partners Joseph Clasen and Brian Wheelin, listed as counsel to the defendants, didn’t respond to requests for comment.