Feed giant Biomar said it will appeal a patent a infringement ruling against the company related to STIM's SuperSmolt FeedOnly ensuring that a heated dispute with its rival rumbles on.
It comes after an Oslo District Court found Biomar guilty of patent infringement related to its product Intro Tuning, ruling it was a copy of STIM's SuperSmolt FeedOnly.
The court ruled against Biomar on several counts, leaving the feed giant with a bill of roughly NOK 23 million ($2.4 million/€2.2 million) to cover damages and other fees.
BioMar has opted to appeal the judgement despite the Norwegian judgement not affecting its right to continue to produce and sell the current product portfolio for smoltification in any countries.
The company rejects claims it copied a technology protected by valid patents or was involved in other misdeeds through the launch of the previous version of their smolt transfer product Intro Tuning.
Biomar previously asked the court to invalidate STIM's two patents on the SuperSmolt technology, but the court found no reason to do so.
“Biomar Norway truly believes that a general known method to improve smoltification in aquaculture cannot be protected by a patent," said Havard Jorgensen, managing director of Biomar Norway and former Biomar Group Global R&D Director.
"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."
