Jury’s $920 Million Trade Secret Misappropriation Verdict Vacated

In a stunning per curiam ruling, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals last week vacated a judgment of nearly $1 billion, and a 20-year non-compete injunction, entered by an Eastern District of Virginia judge in favor of the DuPont Company.  The appellate tribunal held that the lower court committed prejudicial error by granting DuPont’s pre-trial motion in limine to bar defendant Kolon Industries from offering any evidence relating to an earlier lawsuit involving DuPont.  The case was remanded for a new trial before a different judge.  E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co. v. Kolon Industries, Inc., No. 12-1260 (4th Cir., Apr. 3, 2014).

Summary of the case.  DuPont maintained that one or more former employees, working as consultants to Kolon, misappropriated DuPont’s trade secrets relating to the manufacture and marketing of “Kevlar,” a strong, synthetic fiber used, for example, in bullet-resistant armor.  Kolon contended that what the consultants disclosed was not confidential because it was part of the public record in prior trade secret misappropriation litigation DuPont filed against a company — not Kolon — that was, at the time, DuPont’s primary competitor with respect to “Kevlar.”

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