A Case Study:
Stolen Formulations

The Case

A former employee of Company A was discharged, started his own company (Company B), and began producing a specialty coating. Company A, however, suspected that the employee had actually stolen the proprietary formula for this coating. Polymer Solutions Incorporated (PSI) was asked to analyze this coating from Company A and the corresponding coating from Company B to objectively document their similarities and differences.

After extensive analysis, PSI determined that the likelihood of the formula being identical was very high. The corresponding coatings from the two companies showed virtually no difference. The chances of this occurring by coincidence were astronomical.

Full Study> StolenFormulations.pdf (216 KB)

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The Approach

In order to arrive at the conclusion of chemical similarity, Polymer Solutions Incorporated used two major analytical techniques to compare and contrast the coating samples:

• Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy
• Capillary gas chromatography (GC)

The Fourier Transform Infrared spectra of the coating formulations were acquired. An infrared spectrum provides a rather unique fingerprint of an organic chemical or mixture of chemicals as a result of absorbance values (peaks) that have specific intensities (the y-axis) at specific wavelengths (the x-axis).

The coating samples were analyzed by Gas Chromatography (GC) on a capillary column, as shown to the left. Gas chromatography separates volatile chemical compounds based on their differing rates of travel through a column through which a gas stream is flowing.

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