Help wanted – willingness to share trade secrets a must

How much do you know about FOAMGLAS? Not much?

Thought so…

If you worked at Pittsburgh Corning’s facility in Sedalia, Missouri, you probably know a lot about FOAMGLAS. Up until recently, Ji Li Huang, and Xiao Guang Qi would have loved to chat with you. In fact, if during that “chat” you agreed to share what you knew about FOAMGLAS, in return you might have ended up $100,000 richer. That’s what the US government alleges at least.

Apparently, Pittsburgh Corning recently made major advances in the formulation and manufacturing process associated with FOAMGLAS. Just so you know, FOAMGLAS is used in liquid natural gas (LNG) tanks.

Which country has the greatest demand for FOAMGLAS? China – it has 10,000 LNG plants.

I’ve discussed the theft of trade secrets numerous times on this blog. What makes this case unique is the fact that Huang and Qi allegedly placed an advertisement in a local newspaper that solicited “technical talent” with experience at the Pittsburgh Corning plant. The advertisement indicated that there was a project lead vacancy associated with the building of a foam glass factory in the Asian market. What they really wanted was information, presumably to launch a competing product. That’s speculation on my part… Coincidentally, Pittsburgh Corning just announced plans to open a facility in China.

Thankfully, the FBI stepped in using an undercover employee from the company. The plan that the undercover employee shared with Huang and Qi involved the employee breaking into the engineering department and stealing equipment related drawings. The FBI helped coordinate the exchange of the documents and the corresponding payment. Huang and Qi are now in custody awaiting court hearings.

Should the allegations noted above result in convictions, it will represent another example of a U.S. based company creating intellectual property that attracts unwanted attention from foreign competitors. From what I can tell so far, Pittsburgh Corning did everything right. How many companies are not so well prepared?

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