After suffering consecutive losses in previous judicial authorities, the Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal from BioMar, meaning that the feed producer must now pay SuperSmolt patent holder STIM.
The lengthy dispute between STIM and BioMar is now over, following a unanimous decision by the Supreme Court’s Appeals Selection Committee.
The ruling from Borgarting Court of Appeal stands, where BioMar was ruled to have infringed on the SuperSmolt patents as well as breached the business code of conduct. The company must pay well over NOK 36 million (€3.5 million) in compensations and legal costs to STIM.
“We are happy that this case is now concluded with the correct result. Additionally, it has provided some important judicial clarifications, especially regarding indirect patent infringement, which will be of significance for future cases,” Ida Espolin Johnson, attorney for STIM, said.
Indirect patent infringement implies legal responsibility for delivering a product that enables the customer to exploit an invention under patent protection. BioMar is ruled to have infringed both directly and indirectly on the patents.
“I am satisfied but of course not surprised by the Supreme Court rejecting BioMar’s appeal. Most of all I am happy that we finally can put this case behind us and focus fully on new innovations and solutions that can benefit the industry, STIM CEO Jim-Roger Nordly said.
STIM launched SuperSmolt FeedOnly in 2015. The innovation made it easy to ensure a homogenous smolt status within the fish groups, so that every fish could be safely transferred to seawater without welfare issues relating to low tolerance for salinity.
“We are dissapointed with the decision by Norway’s Supreme Court and are taking note of it,” Håvard Yngve Jørgensen, Managing Director of BioMar Norway, said.
