BASF Corporation and DuPont Advanced Fibers Systems

The Federal Trade Commission has granted BASF Corporation (BASF) and DuPont Advanced Fibers Systems (DuPont) temporary designations for use in marketing their manufactured fibers that they maintain do not fall within any existing established generic fiber category. The temporary designations -- DP 0001 for DuPont’s TEFLON PTFE fluorocarbon fiber and BC 0001 for BASF’s “melamine fiber” -- will be effective until the Commission can make final determinations as to the companies’ requests that new generic names and definitions be given to the fibers. The companies petitioned the FTC to establish new generic names and definitions, suggesting in their petitions that the composition of both fibers is significantly different from existing generic manufactured fibers.

BASF Corporation is based in Mount Olive, New Jersey. DuPont Advanced Fibers System is based in Wilmington, Delaware.

The statute under which the applications were filed -- the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act -- requires that before marketing a new generic manufactured fiber, a company must submit an application to the FTC requesting the establishment of a new generic name and definition for the fiber. In past matters of this type, the Commission has annunciated the following three criteria for establishing a new generic manufactured fiber:

• the fiber must have a chemical composition radically different from other fibers, and this distinctive chemical composition must result in distinctive physical properties of significance to the general public;
  
• the fiber must be in active commercial use, or such use must be immediately foreseen; and,
  
• the granting of the generic name must be of importance to the consuming public at large, rather than merely to a small group of knowledgeable professionals.

The temporary designations, the FTC said in its letters to each company, will remain in place until the Commission makes a final determination on each company’s application.

The Commission vote to grant the temporary designations was 5-0.

Copies of the Commission’s letters granting the temporary designations are available from the FTC’s Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-326-2222; TTY for the hearing impaired 202- 326-2502. To find out the latest news as it is announced, call the FTC NewsPhone recording at 202-326-2710 FTC news releases and other materials also are available on the Internet at the FTC’s World Wide Web site at: http://www.ftc.gov

(FTC File Nos. P 96 8403, P96 8404)