DuPont wins $920m aramid secrets lawsuit against Kolon Industries
15 Sep 2011
Wilmington, Delaware — DuPont has won a civil lawsuit for $919.9 million in the US against Kolon Industries, with a jury finding that Kolon stole trade secrets and confidential information regarding DuPontTM Kevlar aramid fiber.
A jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, found that South Korea-based Kolon had misappropriated of trade secrets in a “willful and malicious” way.
“The size of this award is one of the largest in defense of business processes and technologies,” said Thomas Sager, senior vice president and general counsel of DuPont. “It also sends a message to potential thieves of intellectual property that DuPont will pursue all legal remedies to protect our significant investment in research and development and our proprietary information for the benefit of our shareholders and customers.”
DuPont said it will ask the trial judge to impose injunctive relief requiring Kolon to return DuPont’s proprietary information and to stop manufacturing and selling products made from that information. DuPont also expects to recover its attorney’s fees from Kolon.
According to Sager, in 2007, DuPont became concerned about Kolon’s activities and notified the FBI, the Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce. DuPont understands that law enforcement’s investigation of Kolon is ongoing.
Research by DuPont scientists in the field of liquid crystalline polymer solutions in 1965 formed the basis for the commercial preparation of the Kevlar aramid fiber.
