Kaneka Corporation, the parent company of Kaneka Nutrients L.P., has voluntarily dismissed a patent suit against Zhejiang Medicine Co., Ltd. and ZMC-USA LLC asserting the infringement of U.S. Patent No. 7,910,340 before the District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Kaneka continues to pursue its patent claims against both Defendants in a related ITC proceeding (complaint no. 337-TA-2822) and another pending lawsuit in the same judicial district.
Email PDF Print Pasadena, TX (PRWEB) September 06, 2011
Kaneka Nutrients L.P. ("KNL") announced today that its parent company, Kaneka Corporation ("Kaneka") has voluntarily dismissed a patent infringement suit against Zhejiang Medicine Co., Ltd. and its subsidiary ZMC-USA LLC (collectively, "ZMC") pending before the District Court for the Southern District of Texas (case no. 4:11-cv-2250). According to Kaneka’s counsel, the dismissal does not affect Kaneka’s infringement claims against ZMC on the same patent — U.S. Patent No. 7,910,340 — in the ongoing ITC investigation or the pending declaratory judgment action previously filed by ZMC in the same judicial district (case no. 4:11-cv-1052).
ZMC alleged that Kaneka, after filing a complaint to initiate the ITC investigation, sent letters notifying distributors of coenzyme Q10 products of its patent infringement claims against ZMC. After an allegation by ZMC’s attorney that Kaneka’s infringement notification letters caused ZMC to lose customers, including an account with $10M in annual revenues, the court ordered Kaneka to withdraw the letters. However, longstanding precedents by the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit establish that Kaneka’s infringement notification letters constitute a valid exercise of its patent rights. Kaneka responded by notifying ZMC and the court that Kaneka planned to challenge the order.
According to Kaneka’s counsel, while Kaneka was fully prepared to challenge the order, it was more expedient for Kaneka to dismiss its case against ZMC and pursue its patent infringement claims against ZMC in the ongoing ITC investigation and the pending declaratory judgment action filed by ZMC. ZMC sought to prevent the dismissal but its attempt was precluded by its failure to respond to Kaneka’s complaint. On August 25, 2011, the court cancelled the next day’s hearing on its order to show cause and dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice.
Kaneka’s patent infringement claims against ZMC remain pending before the ITC and in the declaratory judgment action filed by ZMC. Kaneka is confident of vindicating its patent rights in both actions.
About Kaneka Nutrients L.P.
Kaneka Nutrients L.P. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kaneka Corporation, headquartered in Osaka, Japan. Kaneka is the largest manufacturer of CoQ10 in the world and the Pasadena, Texas facility is the first and only CoQ10 manufacturer in the United States. Kaneka, supporting Quality of Life through science.