Aker Biomarine Withdraws Patent Lawsuit Against Rimfrost

21 Apr 2017 --- Aker Biomarine has voluntarily withdrawn its complaint at the International Trade Commission (ITC), alleging that krill manufacturer Rimfrost had violated several of its patents.

Rimfrost owner, Stig Remøy welcomed the news and claimed that it shows that his company “has been right all along.”

“Aker Biomarine has no case, because you cannot patent nature itself,” he said.

Rimfrost has said that Aker Biomarine’s patent dispute with Rimfrost has had negative effects on the global krill market.

“We are observing that Aker Biomarine adopts harsh methods in an attempt to usurp a global krill monopoly,” Remøy says.

“This will not succeed, and cannot be accepted by us. When krill licenses were allocated in 2007, Norwegian authorities made it clear that it is in the nation's interest that licenses are distributed to multiple players.”

Remøy adds that as the ITC case closes, new market opportunities for Rimfrost are emerging.

“Rimfrost’s ambitions with krill are extensive,” Remøy says, “Our considerable krill oil capacities allow us to market worldwide.”

“In addition,” he says, “krill has major potential in the aquaculture market. Our technology increases growth and improves health for farmed salmon.”

Explaining the decision to drop the lawsuit, Katrin Berntsen, the Director Communication at Aker BioMarine told NutritionInsight that, “Since the ITC investigation started, Olympic Holding and Emerald Fisheries have gone bankrupt and their “Juvel” krill harvesting vessel has been seized by creditors.”

“Last week, we settled the patent dispute with Avoca. Considering these developments, Aker BioMarine has asked the ITC to discontinue its investigation.”

“Aker BioMarine will direct its resources used to maintain the ITC investigation to continue to pursue its claim for patent infringement and damages from Rimfrost and Bioriginal in the pending District Court case in Delaware.”

Berntsen added that, “The omega-3 market where we compete with our Superba ingredient has been soft.”

“In this competitive market, in order to drive growth, we have invested in market innovation and science that can drive demand in new market segments.”