Company News

Thai company sued by Eastman Chemical
Thailand's Indorama Polymers’s subsidiaries in the US and Europe are being sued by Eastman Chemical for unauthorised use of the latter’s patented Integrex PET technology.

Indorama, which is currently starting up a new PET plant in the US and in 2008 purchased Eastman’s PET plants in the UK and the Netherlands, said in a statement that the lawsuit relates to “certain patent, technology licensing and trade secret matters” while not elaborating further.

The company’s units that are affected include Alphapet, Indorama Polymers Rotterdam and Indorama Polymers Workington. The company also said that it believes these claims are without merit and it intends to vigorously defend against the claims.

US-based Eastman Chemical filed the lawsuit late last year alleging patent infringement, breach of contract and trade secret misappropriation. The patent infringement claims relate to three Eastman patents that encompass PET manufacturing technology. The breach of contract and trade secret claims arise from Indorama’s unauthorised disclosure and use of information covered by a license agreement between Eastman and several European Indorama entities.