
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 14, 1994                   TAG: 9405160136
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CITING TRADE SECRETS, CORNING SUES TO BAR ENGINEER FROM JOINING RIVAL

Sung Ki Pak, one of the top engineers at Corning Inc.'s Blacksburg plant, abruptly resigned in March and went to work for Applied Ceramics, one of the company's chief competitors.

Corning filed suit against Pak this week alleging that the engineer will divulge Corning's trade secrets unless a federal judge prohibits him from working for its Atlanta-based rival.

The suit claims that Pak signed an agreement when he joined Corning in 1983 agreeing never to reveal classified information pertaining to the company's manufacturing process.

Corning's plant in Blacksburg makes ceramic substrates that are used by automobile companies to help control emissions in exhausts. The company supplies substrates to Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Nissan.

Applied Ceramics announced last year that it was teaming up with A.C. Rochester to develop ceramic substrates like those made by Corning.

The suit filed in U.S District Court in Roanoke alleges that Pak's expertise would give Applied Ceramics an unfair advantage and could jeopardize the jobs of more than 200 employees at Corning's Blacksburg plant.

"The trade secrets possessed by Pak would enable Applied Ceramics and A.C. Rochester to save many years of research and development time and many millions of research and development dollars in their efforts to reach competitive equality with Corning," the suit says.

Pak, according to the suit, has told Corning executives that he will do "whatever is necessary" to see that Applied Ceramics is successful.

The suit claims Pak already has contacted at least one of Corning's vendors on behalf of Applied Ceramics.

Pak resigned from Corning on March 18 allegedly because of family and personal matters, the suit says. When Corning found he was going to work for Applied Ceramics it told him he was violating the proprietary agreement, the suit says.

The company offered to give him a job at Corning's Cormetech plant in Durham, N.C., which is closer to Pak's family in Alabama or to assist him financially in his search for a job in Alabama and continue paying his full salary for two years, the company claims.

The company is asking a judge to order Pak to quit his job at Applied Ceramics and accept one of Corning's options.

"It would be impossible for Pak, if he continues to be employed by Applied Ceramics, to avoid using or disclosing Corning's confidential information ... either intentionally or inadvertently."

Pak has not replied to the suit.

by CNB