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Solus Advanced Materials’ copper foil plant in Hungary. (Photo courtesy of Solus Advanced Materials) |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Seoul – The legal dispute between SK Nexilis and Solus Advanced Materials has intensified, as SK Nexilis filed a motion to amend its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas earlier this month.
Originally filed in November 2023, the lawsuit centered on five patents related to advanced copper foil manufacturing technologies. SK Nexilis now seeks to add claims of misappropriation and use of trade secrets to the case.
New Allegations
In its amended filing, SK Nexilis alleges that Solus Advanced Materials and its subsidiary, Volta Energy Solutions, improperly obtained and used proprietary information concerning:
Additive recipes
Electrolyte operating conditions
Drum management methods
These processes, SK Nexilis argues, are core elements of copper foil manufacturing for next-generation batteries.
Solus Advanced Materials’ Response
Solus strongly denies the allegations, maintaining that it has never infringed SK Nexilis’s trade secrets. The company contends that the copper foil manufacturing methods in question were already widely adopted across the industry well before SK Nexilis entered the market. Solus has formally requested that the Texas court reject the amendment.
Broader Context
The Texas court is currently hearing a total of five patent infringement cases brought by SK Nexilis against Solus, four filed in November 2023 and one in May 2024. These patents concern methods for enhancing the mechanical strength, elongation, and surface properties of copper foil.
Solus argues that SK Nexilis’s patents are invalid, claiming that the technologies have long been embedded in products manufactured by its subsidiaries and the wider copper foil industry.
Next Steps
The court will decide whether to allow SK Nexilis’s amended complaint, which could expand the scope of litigation beyond patent infringement to include trade secret misappropriation claims.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
