Cytec Industries Inc. is suing China's Yantai Sunshow Specialty Chemical Co. Ltd., alleging that it violated Cytec patents in its Polymer Additives business.
The lawsuit, which was announced Sept. 14, alleges that Sunshow is “making and/or selling” a product in violation of Cytec's patent for its Cyasorb Cynergy solutions V703 product.
The announcement does not provide details of the alleged violation, but says that Cytec, which was bought last year by Brussels-based Solvay SA in a $5.5 billion deal, is seeking injunctive relief, damages and legal fees.
Cytec said the lawsuit came after a lengthy investigation. It was filed in the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, in the city of Shenzhen.
In a statement to Plastics News, Cytec said Sunshow's Sunovin 5593 product infringes its V703 additive, and it said that the Chinese firm had been violating Cytec patents by selling the product at trade shows in Brazil, China and Germany.
Sunshow marketed the Sunovin 5593 as a direct replacement for the V703, according to Cytec. The V703 product is used globally and is a “market leading” additive to make thermoplastic olefins more UV stable for soft touch applications like automotive interiors, Cytec said.
It does that with lower volatile organic compound emissions compared to most systems in use, Cytec said.
“Solvay and its subsidiaries have invested heavily in terms of both time and money to develop its Cyasorb Cynergy Solutions product platform and we rely on patents to help recoup our investment,” said Domenico Romanino, senior vice president of additive technologies for Solvay Technology Solutions.
Yantai Sunshow's website states that it has 150 employees and, in 2014, had annual sales of $48 million. It has annual capacity of 10,000 metric tons of polymer additives.