Trial of Chinese Man Accused of Polymer Trade Secrets Theft from Dow

Right on the heels of the visit of China’s president to the U.S. comes another story of Chinese trade secrets theft and commercial espionage.

From the Baton Rouge (LA) Advocate, a story about opening statements in the criminal trial of Wen Chyu Liu, a/k/a David Liou, accused of stealing trade secrets from his former employer, Dow Chemical.

Liu, who worked for Dow for 25 years until 1991, is alleged to have lead an effort to obtain and market the secrets of a Dow polymer known as Tyrin CPE. The secrets were allegedly obtained from employees at Dow facilities in Plaquemine, Louisiana and Stade, Germany.

The prosecutors claim Liu received $500,000 for delivering the secrets. His attorneys claim that he developed an alternative process and obtained patents for it in China.

We’ll follow the story and report back.