Kolon Charged With Trade Secret Theft

A grand jury in Richmond, Va., has indicted South Korea’s Kolon Industries and five of its employees. They are charged with stealing trade secrets from p-aramid fiber makers DuPont and Teijin. Department of Justice prosecutors are seeking a $225 million fine from Kolon. The firm’s employees, including a senior executive and the head of aramid R&D, also face conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges, which carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines. “This indictment should send a strong message to companies located in the U.S. and around the world that industrial espionage is not a business strategy,” says Neil H. MacBride, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Prosecutors say Kolon hired five former DuPont employees and a former Teijin employee as consultants and pressed them to reveal proprietary information. The federal action comes about a year after DuPont won a $920 million verdict against Kolon for aramid trade secret theft.