Lonza Ltd and Lonza Inc, subsidiaries of Lonza Group, announced the settlement on Friday of their recently filed patent infringement actions against Barrington Chemical Corporation, Carnitech and Nutritional Sourcing International (NSI) in the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
As part of the settlement, Barrington, Carnitech, NSI and NSI Leaders Nutrition, admitted the validity of and agreed to refrain from infringing Lonza's Carnitine patents, for the use in swine, poultry and racing animals and for L-Carnitine L-Tartrate used as a dietary supplement and covered by US patent 5,073,376, according to Lonza.
The subject patent specifically covers enteric preparations (solid oral dosage forms) of L-Carnitine LTartrate in tablet, capsule and powdered form, and the making and using of such preparations.
Lonza positions itself as an industry leader in developing innovative technology on the nutritional uses of L-Carnitine and has a number of patents for its carnitine portfolio. Reto Rieder, global director for nutrition products at Lonza, said: "We have started to take legal action against patent violators and will vigorously defend our intellectual property rights in the future as well."
The company said these lawsuits and their favorable settlements are a significant step in protecting its intellectual property rights.
Switzerland-based Lonza had sales of SF2.54 billion ($1.95bn) in 2002.