Paul Hastings still has a ways to go if it hopes to vindicate client Kolon Industries in its trade secrets battle with E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. But Kolon’s big appellate win last week has clearly boosted the spirits of its defense lawyers. And whatever happens in the case, the ruling is a reminder of the inherent difficulties that come with protecting a product through both patents and trade secrets, as DuPont has done over the decades with its blockbuster Kevlar fiber.
As we reported, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled April 3 that South Korea–based Kolon is entitled to a new trial to defend against claims that it appropriated trade secrets relating to Kevlar. Erasing a $919 million jury verdict that DuPont won in September 2011, the appeals court faulted U.S. District Judge Robert Payne in Richmond for refusing to let Kolon argue that some of DuPont’s purported trade secrets entered the public domain in the 1980s through an unrelated patent case.
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