Trinseo Accuses KBR of Selling Trade Secrets to Chinese Rivals

Trinseo SA sued a unit of KBR Inc. for allegedly stealing trade secrets used to produce high-performance plastics and selling the technology to two Chinese rivals that are building competing plants.

KBR allegedly gained access to Trinseo’s proprietary manufacturing process for interfacial polycarbonate resins when the companies were helping Saudi Aramco build its huge Sadara chemical complex in 2007. After that project wrapped, KBR was supposed to destroy the manufacturing specs it obtained from Trinseo’s predecessor, Dow Chemical, but failed to do so, according to a complaint filed in Houston federal court on Friday.

Trinseo claims KBR recognized the rapid ...