Full Victory for Rimfrost Against Aker Biomarine
The US patent authorities have found that patents related to krill and its production held by Aker Biomarine are unpatentable.
August 22, 2018
The US patent authorities have found that patents related to krill and its production held by Aker Biomarine are unpatentable.
This finding by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) on August 10th this year, follows petitions from Rimfrost AS, a Norwegian biotechnology company which produces krill oil.
This means that Rimfrost once and for all can settle any confusion created by Aker Biomarine in the US market regarding Rimfrost’s products and ability to deliver.
- No legal process in the USA concerning its patents has gone in Aker Biomarine’s favour.
- Rimfrost has experienced a massive sales growth in krill products since 2017. Rimfrost Krill Oil have the markets highest levels of natural occurring Astaxanthin & Omega-3 Phospholipids, and we can deliver our high-quality products for human consumption even in a market with rapidly rising demand.
“The US market is especially important to us, and we are happy that the uncertainty Aker Biomarine has sought to create around our products and ability to deliver is now repudiated,” says Stig Remoy, CEO and principal owner of Rimfrost.
With its head office at Fosnavag in the Sunnmore region of western Norway, Rimfrost is already one of the world’s largest producers of krill products.
Technological revolution
In addition to its current output of krill oil and other products, Rimfrost has made great progress in designing and ordering new krill catchers.
The company holds a licence for krill fishing in the Antarctic and is now in the final stages of negotiating a contract covering an innovative vessel for this fishery. It is also applying for a second licence.
“Global demand from consumers for krill products will be high. This resource also has great potential in the aquaculture sector. Our technology and the ships we’re planning will revolutionise the whole chain from krill-catching, via the production process, to the finished products, and will benefit consumers in the US and elsewhere,” says Remoy.
Aker’s patents
The two patents which the US authorities have now invalidated were used by Aker Biomarine to pursue legal action against Rimfrost in the Delaware court and in the US International Trade Commission (ITC). The ITC case included additional patents, all which Rimfrost contended were invalid and procured through Aker’s inequitable conduct at the US Patent Office. Aker withdrew the ITC case, which concluded in May 2017.
Remoy himself is relieved that disputes in the US now have reached conclusions in Rimfrost’s favour.
“We’ve occasionally felt like a David versus a Goliath,” he admits. “We would rather produce high quality krill products for the benefit of consumers than having costly and time-consuming fights in courts.”
Contact information:
Stig Remoy, CEO of Rimfrost, [email protected], telephone +47 916 19 124
To view a PDF of the press release, click here.
To learn more about RIMFROST, visit: www.rimfrostkrill.com
