United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit ____________________ Nos. 20-2953, 20-3213, & 21-2033 REXA, INC., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MARK V. CHESTER and MEA INC., Defendants-Appellees. ____________________

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. No. 1:17-cv-08716 — Charles P. Kocoras, Judge. ____________________

ARGUED FEBRUARY 15, 2022 — DECIDED JULY 28, 2022 ____________________

Before WOOD, HAMILTON, and BRENNAN, Circuit Judges. BRENNAN, Circuit Judge. Mark Chester, then an engineer for a company called Koso America, Inc., participated in a 2002 project aimed at creating a new valve for an actuator—a machine component that produces motion. If successful, the project would have eliminated the need for Koso to pay roy- alties to another firm. But the project failed to accomplish that goal. Instead, it yielded an experimental prototype of another 2