Airbus Korea, Boeing Korea Execs Under Criminal Investigation for Violations of Penal Code; Could Face 7 Years Imprisonment

Airbus Korea, Boeing Korea Execs Under Criminal Investigation for Violations of Penal Code; Could Face 7 Years Imprisonment

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korean authorities recently commenced criminal investigations for executives at Airbus Korea Limited and Boeing Korea LLC, under Penal Articles 225(1) and 230 of the Patent Act for infringement. Under Chapter XII Penal Provisions, the CEOs could face up to seven years in prison.  

The prosecution, which includes Loic Porcheron, managing director of Airbus Korea, and Eric John, president of Boeing Korea, follows a lawsuit Xene filed in May 2022 against Dutch composite global giant Nouryon BV. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, case number CV-22-2850, alleges Nouryon used Xenecore, Xene’s patented foam-based carbon composite material and manufacturing process, to make parts for 1,000 other companies.

Xene is seeking $6.3 billion in damages from Nouryon and the other companies. Two of those entities, Diadem Sports and Lantor Composites AB, were identified by name in the lawsuit. The rest were referred to in court documents as “John Does #1 to #1003.”

On July 5, 2023, Xene filed a brief stating Nouryon encourages companies like Boeing, General Electric, and Evonik to carry out the Xenecore process.

In 2014, Nouryon agreed to distribute and sell the Xenecore material and process to customers for both companies for mutual monetary benefit. However, Xene alleges Nouryon did so without sharing the profits with Xene and continues to sell the Xenecore material and process to a host of its customers.

Noryoun has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit due to an alleged lack of jurisdiction and another motion to dismiss based on Xene’s supposed failure to show evidence of Noryoun’s direct patent infringement.

Xene began producing carbon fiber tennis rackets in 2010.  It then expanded the use of its microsphere products into other applications, including drag-based wind turbine blades called the Fanturbine. Xene claims the Fanturbine captures exponentially more wind energy than traditionally shaped aero blades. A story on the Fanturbine was featured in the July 2023 edition of Composites World Magazine. 

Xene claims the technology proves Newton’s Law on Conservation of Energy overrules a century of Betz’s theories that drag causes a “loss of energy.” According to Newton’s Law, drag energy cannot be lost. Fan-type blades convert it into energy and provides exponential power over “lifting” with the conventional aero-type blades. 

A recent study proves that 100-meter fan blades can extract more than 1 gigawatt of energy from the wind, and a 30-blade drag array can capture 3 gigawatts of energy. The paper reports that wind energy available for extraction is more than 20 million times that of solar per square meter of real estate, making it the best solution for climate change. The report can be downloaded here.   

The study follows a white paper by Paulo Abdala, an aeronautics professor, showing that by using drag over lift, 14-megawatt turbines could output 1.4 gigawatts of energy, 100 times more than current conventional technology. 

The court documents Xene filed reference a video showing how the microspheres are used in the manufacturing of Airbus parts.  

The company is seeking counsel in 25 countries in Europe, Asia, and Central America to commence criminal cases against CEOs of Airbus, Boeing and other makers, distributors, and end users of airlines, wind turbines, automobiles, boats, construction companies, transportation composites and composite sporting goods who are infringing on their patents. Those include ­­companies and CEOs in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Turkey, Iceland, Poland, Japan, China and Mexico.

Amongst the additional named Joe Doe defendants are General Electric, Siemens, Vestas and automobile makers in Europe.