Norwegian krill producer Rimfrost has announced yet another legal victory in the US courts.
The long-running enmity between Rimfrost and Aker Biomarine has spilled over into a number of court battles in recent years and the latest of these has seen the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruling that another patent related to krill oil production, owned by Aker Biomarine, is unpatentable.
The decisions were made by the PTAB on January 13th this year, and are in response to two inter partes review petitions filed by krill oil producer Rimfrost.
‘This is another victory in a long row of patent cases for Rimfrost. We hope this will settle any confusion created by Aker Biomarine in the US market,’ said Rimfrost’s CEO and principal owner Stig Remøy.
‘No legal process in the USA concerning its patents has gone in Aker Biomarine’s favour. That means the uncertainty which Aker Biomarine has sought to create around our products and ability to deliver is repudiated.’
Based in western Norway’s Sunnmøre region, Rimfrost is a major producer of krill products and the USA represents one of its key markets.
‘We’ve experienced massive sales growth for our krill products since 2017, Stig Remøy said. ‘Our quality is particularly high, and we can deliver even in a market with rapidly rising demand.’
Last year the company signed contracts for a new 120-metre, NoK 1 billion krill harvesting vessel designed by Kongsberg Marine, which Rimfrost claims will be the world’s most modern and eco-friendly vessel for krill harvesting, worth more than NOK 1 billion.
‘We’ve faced many challenges and obstacles on the way to where we are today,’ Stig Remøy commented.
‘So we’re particularly pleased that we’re now putting in place a vessel which we believe will revolutionise krill fishing in Antarctica.’
