Schiff Nutrition Files for Stay in Patent Infringement Suit
January 19 2012 - 4:15PM
Business Wire
Schiff Nutrition International, Inc., (NYSE:WNI), announced that
Schiff, Aker BioMarine Antarctic USA, Inc. and Aker BioMarine ASA
(collectively, Aker) have filed a motion to stay the lawsuit for
patent infringement filed in Delaware by Neptune Technologies &
Bioressources (Neptune). The lawsuit alleges Schiff MegaRed®
infringes U.S. Patent No. 8,030,348, which was issued to Neptune in
October 2011. Schiff believes Neptune’s claims lack merit and the
patent Neptune asserts is invalid. To date, the Delaware Court has
not made any rulings regarding Neptune’s claims against Schiff and
Aker, and the mere fact that Neptune has filed claims against
Schiff and Aker does not in any way affect Schiff’s ability to
continue to sell and promote its top-quality krill oil.
The motion to stay filing follows the US Patent and Trademark
Office’s (USPTO) grant of Aker’s request for re-examination of the
‘348 patent. Aker’s request for re-examination cited multiple prior
art references that were not included in Neptune’s patent
application. In granting Aker’s re-examination request, the USPTO
has issued an initial rejection of all 21 claims of the ‘348
patent. Based on publicly available statistics released by the
USPTO, from November 1999 to September 2011, re-examination
requests average three years to decide and, of the re-examination
certificates issued, claims were canceled or changed in 89% of the
cases.
Schiff and Aker entered into a supply agreement in July 2011
pursuant to which Aker agreed to supply Schiff with its Marine
Stewardship Council certified krill oil. Aker has agreed to
indemnify Schiff under the supply agreement for losses arising out
of the patent litigation. Schiff and Aker have agreed to
collaborate on future innovations under the supply agreement.
Schiff MegaRed® is the world’s leading krill oil brand.
About Schiff Nutrition
Schiff Nutrition International, Inc. is a leading nutritional
supplement company offering vitamins, nutritional supplements and
nutrition bars in the United States and throughout the world.
Schiff’s portfolio of well-known brands includes Schiff Move Free®,
Schiff® Vitamins, Schiff MegaRed®, Schiff Mega-D3®, Tiger's Milk®,
Schiff Sustenex®, and Schiff Digestive Advantage®. Focused on
quality for 75 years, Schiff’s headquarters and award-winning
manufacturing and distribution facility are based in Salt Lake
City, Utah. To learn more about Schiff, please visit the web site
www.schiffnutrition.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are based
on management’s beliefs and assumptions, current expectations,
estimates, and projections. These statements are subject to known
and unknown risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond
the company’s ability to control or predict, and therefore, actual
results may differ materially. For example, statements concerning
the potential outcome of litigation or administrative proceedings
are forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements are
made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995 and, as such, speak only as of the date hereof. Schiff
Nutrition disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements.
Important factors that may cause actual results of Schiff
Nutrition to differ materially from those expressed or implied by
such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited
to: our inability accurately to predict the outcome of
litigation or administrative proceedings, including patent
reexaminations, especially where such proceedings are in an early
stage; the cost, duration and uncertainty of any litigation or
administrative proceeding; dependence on sales of Schiff Move Free
product and the joint care category, dependence on sales of Schiff
MegaRed product, dependence on individual customers, adverse
publicity or consumer perception regarding our nutritional
supplements and/or their ingredients, similar products distributed
by other companies or the nutritional supplement industry
generally, the impact of competitive products and pricing pressure
(including expansion of private label products), the inability to
successfully bid on new and existing private label business, the
impact of raw material pricing, availability and quality
(particularly relating to joint care products and ingredients from
third-party suppliers outside the United States, including China),
claims that our products infringe the intellectual property rights
of others, the inability to enforce or protect our intellectual
property rights and proprietary techniques against infringement,
the inability to successfully launch and maintain sales (especially
in the joint care and omega-3 categories) outside of the United
States while maintaining the integrity of the products sold and
complying with local regulations, the inability to appropriately
respond to changing consumer preferences and demand for new
products, the inability to gain or maintain market distribution for
new products or product enhancements, including products in the
probiotic space, litigation and government or administrative
regulatory action in the United States and internationally,
including FDA enforcement and product liability claims, the
inability or increased cost to obtain sufficient levels of product
liability and general insurance, the inability to comply with
existing or new regulations, both in the United States and abroad,
and adverse actions regarding product formulation, claims or
advertising, product recalls or a significant amount of product
returns, dependence on a single manufacturing facility and
potential disruptions of our manufacturing operations, the
inability to find strategic transaction opportunities or the
inability to successfully consummate or integrate a strategic
transaction (including the inability to successfully integrate the
assets recently acquired from Ganeden), the inability to maintain
or attract key personnel, interruptions to our information
technology systems, control by our principal stockholders, and
other factors indicated from time to time in the company’s SEC
reports, copies of which are available upon request from the
company’s investor relations department or may be obtained at the
SEC's web site (www.sec.gov). These
risks and uncertainties should be carefully considered before
making an investment decision with respect to shares of our common
stock.
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