Kumho goes on the offensive

Korea Kumho Petrochemical Co. has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against Flexsys America, the rubber chemicals joint venture between Solutia and Akzo Nobel. The suit alleges that Flexsys engaged in a conspiracy to restrain trade and fix prices of some rubber chemicals. The suit also alleges that Flexsys tried to shut Kumho out of the marketplace by attacking its business in the U.S. Kumho recently prevailed in a patent suit that Flexsys brought against the South Korean firm over the production of N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine. Flexsys, however, did win a ruling in the International Trade Commission, backing its intellectual property.