Soy ingredients company Solae said today that it has filed a complaint in the District Court of Eastern Missouri against Archer Daniels Midland and Amerifit Nutrition for infringing certain of its patent rights.
Solae claims that both ADM's Novasoy isoflavone products and the Estroven health supplement products marketed by Amerifit infringe patents it holds for isoflavone technology.
"The Solae Company has spent many years investing in soy isoflavone concentrates and will aggressively defend its associated intellectual property portfolio when it is threatened," said Tony Arnold, CEO of Solae, a new joint venture between DuPont Protein Technologies and Bunge. "Our soy isoflavone patents are an extremely valuable corporate asset, and this suit reflects our determination to protect that value."
Solae also announced this week that it is introducing a new line of soy isoflavones in concentrations ranging from 2 per cent to 40 per cent to be marketed under the Prevastein brand for use in dietary supplements.
New Solae CEO Tony Arnold described the range as "the latest result of our extensive research, safety testing and assembly of detailed scientific data on the vital components of the soybean".
"We initiated substantial soy research in the early 1990s, when medical research began to point to the efficacy of soy isoflavones in various important medical conditions, including cancer and heart disease," added Arnold.
Arnold recently replaced Stephan Tanda as president and CEO of the company.