The Borgarting Court of Appeal has ruled that fish feed company BioMar violated good business practice rules, fining it NOK 36 million (€3.7 million).
The court’s decision was described as a “victory for innovation” aquaculture firm STIM, after the ruling confirmed the Norway-based company’s patents on SuperSmolt FeedOnly.
“BioMar developed Intro Tuning in a way that was not widely accepted in the industry, and which appears clearly reprehensible and contrary to the healthy competition,” the court stated in its judgement.
“We are a company that has always invested significant resources in coming up with new products and solutions that can have a positive effect on the aquaculture industry,” STIM CEO Jim-Roger Nordly said in a press release.
“The ruling is thus an important confirmation that large international companies are not free to take advantage of others’ innovations. It is important for us, but also for all other small and large companies that conduct development work, says Nordly, who is pleased that the case is now apparently over.”
STIM didn’t see the decision as a surprise, as the Court of Appeal backed previous rulings from the district court, with the company calling the SuperSmolt FeedOnly a “game changer in terms of efficient and synchronous smoltification, low mortality and good growth both before and after release into the sea.”
“It is undoubtedly one of our most important innovations, and I look forward to spending more of my time on the next development project and less on slow litigation,” Nordly said.
