Former Dow scientist sentenced in trade secret theft case

BATON ROUGE, LA. -- Former Dow Chemical Co. scientist Wen Chyu Liu to five years in jail for selling information on production of Tyrin-brand chlorinated polyethylene to Chinese firms.

Liu – also known as David Liou – was sentenced Jan. 12 by Judge James Brady in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge, La., according to a Jan. 13 news release from the Department of Justice.

Liu, 75, worked for Midland, Mich.-based Dow from 1965 to 1992. He worked as a research scientist at the firm’s Plaquemine, La., site. He later stole trade secrets and proprietary information on Tyrin and traveled extensively throughout China to market the stolen data, according to the news release.

In 1998 and 1999, Liu received payments of more than $375,000 from Chinese companies for the information. He also made payments of more than $67,000 to former Dow employees to obtain the data in those two years.

Liu was first arrested on the charges in 2006 and was convicted in early 2011.