DuPont Award Nixed In Kevlar Case

An appeals court has overturned the $920 million award DuPont won in a 2011 suit charging South Korea’s Kolon Industries with stealing trade secrets for making the aramid fiber Kevlar, which is used in bullet-proof vests. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, in Richmond, Va., said the original judge prevented Kolon from presenting evidence that a number of trade secrets were already public knowledge. The appeals court ordered a new trial and dismissed Kolon’s related antitrust countersuit against DuPont. In 2010, former DuPont employee Michael D. Mitchell was sentenced to 18 months in prison for passing proprietary information to Kolon.