DuPont Wins Large Aramid Jury Award

A jury in Richmond, Va., has awarded DuPont $919.9 million in its aramid fiber trade secret suit against South Korean fiber maker Kolon Industries. In the suit, DuPont alleged that Kolon used consultants to acquire sensitive information about DuPont’s aramid fiber business. Last year, a former DuPont employee, Michael David Mitchell, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for passing along proprietary information to Kolon. “The size of this award is one of the largest in defense of business processes and technologies,” said Thomas L. Sager, general counsel of DuPont, noting that it also sends a message to potential intellectual property thieves. Kolon plans to appeal. “Today’s verdict is the result of a multiyear campaign by DuPont aimed at forcing Kolon out of the aramid fiber market,” Kolon said in a statement.