Dupont was afraid of a secondary
> lawsuit because they knew better - they designed Teflon and are familiar
> with all of its characteristics.
>

Actually, they didn't design it.  It resulted unexpectedly from some experiments to produce another product.  A chemist (pretty famous guy for having done this, but I forget his name) was exploring a series of different molecules as possible refrigerants.  When he tried tetrafluoroethylene, instead of condensing and evaporating as predicted (and desired), it solidified as a polymer, and NOTHING WOULD STICK TO IT.  Story goes on from there.

DMc

David McNeely