Nutrinova and Dolcré have reached settlement -

Nutrinova and Dolcrè, a South African food ingredient supplier, have reached settlement of their dispute with regard to Nutrinova's South Africa patent number 85/2116. Under the settlement, Dolcrè will stop importing Acesulfame K (AcK) from its Chinese suppliers into South Africa and will pay a significant undisclosed sum to Nutrinova.

"Dolcrè is a reputable company with proper business ethics" says Diederick Reid, Managing Director of Dolcrè. "It has always been our intention to respect Nutrinova's patent rights. Our mistake was that we relied on mere assurances from our AcK suppliers – we were apparently misled. Based on the information that became available recently, we realized, with regret, that Dolcrè may have been involved in the trading of potentially infringing AcK. As an immediate measure, we terminated our relationship with these AcK sources".

" It is Nutrinova's strategy to protect its intellectual property rights vigorously and prevent these rights being infringed in any part of the world. We are, therefore, very pleased that Dolcrè has taken the action it has", explains Manfred Boehshar, Vice President of Nutrinova, responsible for the sweetener business.

Both parties state that they are pleased to have resolved this matter amicably.

Nutrinova's patent enforcement strategy has resulted into a judgement against Scanchem and numerous settlements within the last 14 months – with the companies Fuerst Day Lawson Ltd., Jonathan Phillips Ltd., Ellis & Everard Ltd., and Siber Hegner Ltd.