ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, April 3, 1997                TAG: 9704030047
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-8  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: PONTIAC, MICH.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

DOW ALLEGES GE STOLE TRADE SECRETS GE MUST RETURN DOW DOCUMENTS THAT EX-WORKERS MAY HAVE TAKEN

A lawsuit claims a General Electric unit hired Dow Chemical workers and gave them similar jobs where they'd be apt to reveal their Dow knowledge.

General Electric Co. recruited employees from Dow Chemical Co.'s automotiveo and plastics businesses to gain access to trade secrets, Dow alleges in a lawsuit.

The lawsuit says that, for more than a year, GE's plastics business hired former Dow employees and put them into similar jobs, causing them to use Dow's trade secrets.

Dow and GE are major players in the fiercely competitive automotive supply industry.

Judge Edward Sosnick of Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac, Mich., issued a temporary restraining order this week, preventing GE from placing a former Dow employee in a position where he can use Dow secrets, Dow officials said.

The order, pending trial, also requires GE to return any Dow documents that former employees may have taken to GE, and bans GE from destroying records of the former Dow employees and from contacting current Dow workers with job offers, Dow said.

GE Plastics spokesman Robert Hess said Dow's allegations were ``groundless and without merit.'' He said GE makes sure new employees understand their responsibility not to use or disclose trade secrets of a former employer.

GE, based in Fairfield, Conn., has two major automotive-related units: GE Plastics, based in Pittsfield, Mass.; and GE Automotive, based in Southfield, Mich.

Midland, Mich.-based Dow's automotive unit, Dow Automotive, also is based in Southfield.

Dow's lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction to prevent GE from using Dow trade secrets and to halt the alleged ``predatory hiring practices.''

``GE was unable to duplicate our advances in automotive technology, so they set out to raid our work force in order to loot our trade secrets,'' said Larry Denton, vice president of Dow Automotive.

Bob Wood, Dow's business vice president for engineering plastics, declined to say how many Dow employees had been recruited by GE. He said that the lawsuit identifies 14 former Dow employees, and that the company was investigating others.

The lawsuit does not specify damages.

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