Kemin sues Mexicans over lutein

Natural ingredient company Kemin Foods this week continued its quest to defend the rights of its purified, crystal lutein ingredient FloraGLO(TM) when it filed a lawsuit against Pigmentos Vegetales (PIVEG), a Mexican manufacturer of poultry pigments, claiming that the company is infringing two US patents held by Kemin for the manufacture of FloraGLO (TM) brand.

In December last year Kemin sued chemical company, Cognis Corp., claiming that Cognis made false claims that blur the differences between lutein esters and the purified form of lutein that only Kemin Foods manufactures. Additionally, Kemin alleged that Cognis failed to provide labelling guidelines to its vitamin customers as required by a 1999 court settlement between the two companies. The Cognis-Kemin case is still under judicial review.

Kemin is not only seeking an injunction against PIVEG's 'continued infringement'​ of US patents 5,382,714 and 5,648,564 but also compensation, including prejudgment interest and a trebling of damages due to the 'knowing, willful and wanton nature'​ , writes the company in a statement this week.

"PIVEG's marketing materials claim that the company's lutein product is 'free lutein' and is 'derived from marigolds'. This led our scientists to conduct an in-house analysis of the product-the results of which are wholly consistent with infringement,"​ said Rodney L. Ausich, Kemin Foods president. "Since we believe that PIVEG knew of Kemin's​ legally issued patents, we are left with no choice but to take legal action against a company that is knowingly infringing those patents."​

Kemin's FloraGLO lutein has GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status for specific food and beverage applications. Recent scientific studies suggest that there is an association between a diet rich in lutein and a decreased risk of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration.