Intellectual Property Victory

Home > News > EMH successfully prosecutes intellectual property dispute

HOUSTON, TX (August 31,2011) — EMH successfully prosecuted an intellectual property dispute on behalf of its client, INVISTA, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc.  INVISTA filed the lawsuit against Frontech, Inc. ("Frontech") and its owner, Ming D. Wan, to enforce its trade secret rights to its proprietary technology for the manufacture of Butanediol ("BDO"), a chemical used in various products ranging from automobile parts to spandex.  The lawsuit, pending before Judge David Hittner of the Southern District of Texas, alleged that Frontech, rather than develop its own BDO technology, had misappropriated INVISTA's technology and licensed it as their own to two BDO plant manufacturers in China.  EMH successfully obtained summary judgment dismissal of the defendants' counterclaims, which alleged business disparagement and sham litigation, and also successfully defeated the defendants' motion for summary judgment on INVISTA's claims.  Thereafter, as part of a settlement agreement, Frontech and Wan agreed to pay INVISTA licensing fees in connection with the two projects they had secured in China, and to issue a joint press release with INVISTA announcing that they had agreed to pay licensing fees for those projects.  The Defendants also reached an agreement resulting in the issuance of a court order from Judge Hittner declaring that Frontech had no rights to INVISTA's BDO technology; that Frontech shall not use or license INVISTA's technology; that Frontech will return all confidential INVISTA information to INVISTA; and that Frontech must preserve certain documents relating to any future attempts to secure BDO licenses.

 EMH attorneys David McDowell, Kendall Burr and Corey Wyatt represented INVISTA in this matter.

Press releases announcing the settlement are available here and here