Tel Aviv, Israel –Makhteshim Agan Group (MAI) said this week that it won a fipronil patent infringement case brought against it by Germany’s BASF and Bayer CropScience in April 2010.
The US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina ruled in favor of MAI North America and its US subsidiary, Control Solutions Inc., finding that its fipronil insecticide does not infringe on BASF and Bayer’s patents.
BASF said it will appeal the decision. The company also announced it settled a separate fipronil infringement suit against Denmark’s Cheminova, which it filed simultaneously 18 months ago.
In June 2011, MAI’s affiliate CSI launched sales of fipronil-based products under the brand names Taurus for the professional pest control market and Prefurred for companion animal use. MAI’s Taurus was the first major generic version of fipronil, a widely-used broad spectrum insecticide, to become available in the US.
“In creating Taurus, MAI has taken advantage of novel, advanced technologies to design a new manufacturing process these capabilities will continue to support our portfolio expansion,” Shaul Friedland, Head of MAI’s Americas region, said in a statement.
Friedland dice que la compañía continuará comercializando los productos en los EE. UU. Y planea lanzar nuevos productos basados en fipronil a otros mercados.
Jan Buberl, Director of Specialty Products, BASF North America Crop Protection, said in a statement, “We are confident in our intellectual property rights and are committed to vigorously protecting our investments in innovation for this marketplace.”
In BASF’s settlement with Cheminova, it “acknowledged the validity and enforceability of BASF patents relating to the manufacture and use of fipronil-based termiticide products.” Cheminova will be restricted from using, making or selling any such products until the respective patents expire. Further terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
El fipronil se utiliza para la prevención y el tratamiento de termitas, el control de pulgas y garrapatas y como insecticida de amplio espectro para los mercados de cultivos en una variedad de productos de marca en todo el mundo. El ingrediente activo se utiliza en la protección de cultivos principalmente para el tratamiento de algodón, patatas, arroz y tratamiento de semillas, además de amplios usos para aplicaciones no agrícolas.
Fuente: declaraciones publicadas, editado por Jaclyn Sindrich, editora gerente