Milbank’s intellectual property litigation team, led by New York partners Chris Chalsen and Lawrence Kass, achieved a victory for Milbank client SI Group, Inc., in a trade secret misappropriation investigation at the International Trade Commission (ITC) in Washington DC. The claim alleged that Chinese companies Sino Legend and Red Avenue along with certain affiliates stole SI Group’s technology for manufacturing certain rubber resins, including several tackifiers important for making tires.
The ITC issued a notice on January 15, 2014 stating that Sino Legend, Red Avenue and certain affiliates of those companies violated Section 337 of the U.S. Tariff Act by importing rubber resins made using SI Group trade secrets. The ITC issued a limited exclusion order for a period of ten (10) years prohibiting the importation of rubber resins made using any of the SP-1068 Rubber Resin Trade Secrets that are manufactured by, for, or on behalf of violating respondents or any of their affiliated companies, parents, subsidiaries, licensees, contractors, or other related business entities, or their successors or assigns. The ITC decision results from a review of a highly detailed initial determination, which included holdings that the respondents had access to and misappropriated SI Group trade secrets to develop four of their own competing resins.
The Milbank litigation team also included associates Nathaniel Browand, Jordan Markham, and Jacob Jou.
