Crowell & Moring Client DuPont Granted Summary Judgment in Kolon Antitrust Claim

Washington, D.C. – April 6, 2012: Crowell & Moring LLP is pleased to announce that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has granted longstanding firm client DuPont summary judgment in its favor and dismissed Kolon Industries’ antitrust counterclaim with prejudice. The Crowell & Moring team was led by firm chairman and Antitrust Group partner Kent A. Gardiner and partner David D. Cross, partner Jeffrey L. Poston, associate Kathleen Clair, and associate Luke van Houwelingen of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office.

DuPont issued the following statement on April 6, 2012:

DuPont Statement on Court Ruling Re: Kolon Antitrust Claims

For attribution to: Thomas L. Sager, senior vice president and general counsel of DuPont.

Late yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond, Va. granted summary judgment in the favor of DuPont and dismissed Kolon's antitrust counterclaim with prejudice. The court's ruling confirmed that DuPont did not attempt to monopolize the para-aramid fiber market and that competition in the industry is robust.

The court's ruling also underscores what we have said all along: that Kolon filed its antitrust claims only to deflect attention from its efforts to steal Kevlar® trade secrets of DuPont. Last year a federal court jury found Kolon liable for that theft, assessing $920 million in damages to DuPont. The court took note of that verdict again yesterday, reaffirming that "Kolon certainly did misappropriate many trade secrets of DuPont and has used them to its competitive advantage."

The motion of DuPont is still pending in regards to injunctive relief requiring Kolon to stop making product using our stolen technology, as well as our motions for sanctions and attorneys' fees. We expect to begin proceedings to enforce our $920 million judgment shortly.

To pursue opportunities in emerging industries, DuPont recently started up a new facility near Charleston, S.C. to manufacture DuPont™ Kevlar® fiber using state-of-the-art technology. With the addition of the Charleston plant, overall global production capacity for DuPont™ Kevlar® will increase initially by 25 percent and is expected to grow by 40 percent over the next two years. The new capacity will allow DuPont to provide customers with next-generation Kevlar® products that improve their ability to innovate in many applications.

DuPont Contact:
Cathy Andriadis
302-999-5456
catherine.l.andriadis@usa.dupont.com