Solutia may appeal court ruling in favour of Sinorgchem

ERJ staff report (DS)

St Louis, Missouri -- Flexsys, the Solutia subsidiary, may appeal against a ruling which appeared finally to end the bitter legal dispute over intellectual property in the rubber chemicals field.

The company sait it would, "vigorously enforce its intellectual property rights," after a ruling involving alleged infringement of its United States Base Patent held on its PPD2 technology. This Base Patent is valid in the United States through June 2011 and in other world areas through 2012. Flexsys' Process Patents on its PPD2 technology remain valid through 2019.

On July 6, 2010, the US District Court of the Northern District of Ohio granted summary judgment for Sinorgchem Co. and Korea Kumho Petrochemical Co., Ltd., dismissing Solutia's infringement claims against the two defendants. Solutia is evaluating options for promptly appealing this decision to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.

"While the decision was not our desired outcome for this regional case, we were prepared for this ruling and it does not affect the validity of the patent," said D. Michael Donnelly, president and general manager of Solutia's Technical Specialties division. "We remain confident in our intellectual property rights, as the Base Patent has been upheld in other key world areas and our Process Patents remain valid through 2019."

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Press release from Solutia