U.S. Judge Rejects Invista's Lawsuit vs. DuPont

New York, NY, Nov. 3, 2008--A U.S. judge has rejected a lawsuit that accused DuPont and France's Rhodia SA of conspiring to steal Koch Industries Inc.'s proprietary technology that is used in nylon products

The lawsuit, brought by Koch subsidiary Invista, made claims that are not within the jurisdiction of a federal court, U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones in Manhattan said in a written ruling.

Jones gave Invista the option, however, of refiling portions of its case in a different form.

Koch bought Invista from DuPont for more than $4 billion in 2004.

In the lawsuit, filed in August, Invista had sought to block DuPont and Rhodia from using and disclosing its technology for producing adiponitrile, a chemical used in the manufacture of nylon. Invista contended it bought the ADN technology from DuPont as part of the 2004 transaction.

Invista had argued that the legal action was necessary to stop Rhodia and DuPont from unlawfully using its intellectual property to build an ADN manufacturing plant in Asia or elsewhere.