Invista and Rhodia ADN battle continues

In January, Rhodia said it had received a partial award from an ICC arbitration panel in its dispute with Invista. The ruling “vindicates most of Rhodia’s arguments in this first phase of the proceedings”, it said in a statement.

However, only days later Invista released a statement saying a Paris arbitration panel has confirmed it lacks jurisdiction over Rhodia.

“Arbitration in France continues and remains a confidential proceeding,” said Invista spokesperson Mary Beth Jarvis. “But the panel’s preliminary findings, discussed last week in a press release by Rhodia, certainly do not give Rhodia the freedom to use the Invista technology that Rhodia needs to build a new ADN plant.”

In 2008, Invista filed a lawsuit against DuPont and Rhodia, alleging that the two companies were teaming up to misappropriate Invista's butadiene-based adiponitrile (ADN) technology. Koch, which owns Invista, acquired the ADN technology from DuPont as part of its 2004 purchase of DuPont's nvista textiles business.

Court cases are currently pending in New York and Delaware.

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