KPC Found Not in Violation of Unfair Trade Practices

(Akron/Tire Review) Administrative Law Judge Paul J Luckern of the US International Trade Commission (ITC) has found that the Kumho Petrochemical Co. (KPC) of Seoul, Korea is not in violation of the ITC’s unfair trade practice laws, with respect to its importation of tyre chemicals into the US.

The decision also applies to the importation of Kumho tyres into the US, as they are made with KPC chemicals. Since January 2005, KPC had been under investigation for possible violation of Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 at the request of international chemical supplier Flexsys America, which claimed that KPC infringed on Flexsys’ US process patents related to KPC’s production of tire antidegradant chemicals.

In his decision, Luckern ruled that KPC did not directly or indirectly infringe the patents asserted against it by Flexsys.