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By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) - Duracell, the battery maker owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, has been sued by BASF for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to the German chemical company's lithium ion battery technology, court documents showed.
In a heavily redacted complaint made public on Tuesday in Delaware federal court, BASF said the trade secrets related to its efforts over several years to manufacture lower-cost materials for high-powered batteries.
Duracell did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
In the complaint, BASF said it invested substantial resources in creating a proprietary and trade-secret process for producing high-performance cathode material, a battery component it called "crucial".
But it said Duracell misappropriated secrets while the companies had a collaboration agreement, shared details with a third party, and arranged for manufacturing under the false pretense that BASF's process came from Duracell.
By "cutting BASF out of its role as developer and supplier," Duracell caused "substantial and irreparable injury," justifying damages, BASF said.
Lithium ion batteries are used in many products including consumer electronics, electric vehicles, appliances, toys and energy storage systems.
BASF announced a plan in December 2023 to separate its battery chemicals business and two other businesses into autonomous units, to help boost earnings.
Berkshire bought Duracell from Procter & Gamble for about $2.9 billion in 2016.
The case is BASF Corp. v. Duracell U.S. Operations Inc, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware, No. 25-00404.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Joe Bavier)
