Rather than face the allegations, KonaRed (KR) has opted to shift venues to a different forum that KR apparently hopes will be more favourable than a Federal Court in its own backyard in Hawaii.
KonaRed previously suffered a stinging defeat late last year when the Federal Judge in Hawaii summarily dismissed the great bulk of the counter-claims KR had pursued against FC.
KonaRed had sought to avoid the adverse ruling by seeking a temporary halt to the litigation, but the court refused to stall the decision, which was among the first decisions issued by the court. KR subsequently engaged in a procedural manoeuvre routinely followed by alleged infringers in order to stall the proceedings, which the court ultimately allowed. The Federal Court retains jurisdiction over the case, which will immediately resume after the re-exam process concludes.
John Hunter, general manager of FutureCeuticals, said: “KonaRed has jumped the gun on this one, and their recent press release is intentionally misleading. There is no KonaRed victory at all. If any victory has been had, it has been a FutureCeuticals victory. We obtained dismissal of almost all of the claims KR pursued in the lawsuit. KR is now just trying to kick the can down the alley in an attempt to avoid the inevitable. They may be hoping that we will not have the stomach to fight on, but they have seriously misjudged our resolve.”
Hunter added: “We are a trusted supplier throughout the multinational food and nutritional supplement industries, and we take IP very seriously. FutureCeuticals had formally advised KonaRed of our IP concerns several years ago, but KR never adequately addressed the issues. Thus far they have been unwilling to provide the necessary details, but there is ample evidence that would lead any reasonable person to suspect potential infringements of our IP.
“Now they’re in a battle for their existence. If they think that spreading half-truths and incomplete, misleading information through the media will win them public support or new customers, or that these machinations can dissuade us from vigorously defending our patent rights, they are grievously mistaken. We are only made more determined by their shocking attempts to distort the facts.”
Source: FutureCeuticals
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