While the Norwegian judgement does not affect BioMar's right to continue to produce and sell the current product portfolio for smoltification in any countries, BioMar has decided to appeal the judgement on having infringed one of the two existing STIM patents in Norway and violated the Marketing Act.
The company does not agree to have copied a technology protected by valid patents or carried out other wrongdoings by the launch of the previous version of their smolt transfer product Intro Tuning:
'BioMar Norway truly believes that a general known method to improve smoltification in aquaculture cannot be protected by a patent. As an important contributor to innovation in the industry and a company with a strong record of developing patented technology, we fully respect intellectual property rights. We however believe that in this case, we have not infringed any valid patent as the fundamental knowledge existed both internally in BioMar and within the industry prior to the filing of the STIM patent in question. We have continued to develop an approach to aid the smoltification process and by our innovations contributed with new feeds and technology to improve both cost efficiency and biological impact', explains Håvard Jørgensen, MD BioMar Norway and former Global R&D Director in BioMar Group.
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| Håvard Jørgensen, MD BioMar Norway and former Global R&D Director in BioMar Group Image credit: BioMar |
'BioMar Norway truly believes that a general known method to improve smoltification in aquaculture cannot be protected by a patent. As an important contributor to innovation in the industry and a company with a strong record of developing patented technology, we fully respect intellectual property rights. We however believe that in this case, we have not infringed any valid patent as the fundamental knowledge existed both internally in BioMar and within the industry prior to the filing of the STIM patent in question. We have continued to develop an approach to aid the smoltification process and by our innovations contributed with new feeds and technology to improve both cost efficiency and biological impact', explains Håvard Jørgensen, MD BioMar Norway and former Global R&D Director in BioMar Group.
Supported by expert patent lawyers the STIM patent case against BioMar in Norway will therefore be appealed. Both BioMar and two other leading feed companies have challenged STIM's patent by filing oppositions at the European Patent office (EPO). If the oppositions succeed this will automatically lead to revocation of STIM's patent also in Norway.
'We will continue to fight for the industry's right to produce feed to support the growth and health during seawater transfer and smoltification and such give farmers the possibility to implement the feeding strategy of their own choice', concluded Håvard Jørgensen.
Visit the BioMar website, HERE.
The Aquaculturists
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