VDF FutureCeuticals, the manufacturers of CoffeeBerry® Whole Coffee Fruit products, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the makers of KonaRed, one of two major coffee fruit beverage brands on the market.
Here is the press release issued by VDF FutureCeuticals regarding the lawsuit:
MOMENCE, IL – VDF FutureCeuticals, Inc. today announced that it has filed suit against Sandwich Isles Trading Co., maker of the KonaRed™ line of coffee fruit products, for infringement of patents related to coffee fruit production methods and technologies marketed by FutureCeuticals under the registered trade name CoffeeBerry®. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.
FutureCeuticals spent a number of years and significant capital developing an effective means of preserving the coffee fruit, previously discarded by the conventional coffee industry as a waste product, because, among other things, it was considered too perishable to safely and usefully process.
FutureCeuticals’ efforts resulted in a novel, patented technology of coffee fruit cultivation, harvest and processing that preserves the unique antioxidant and phytochemical profile of the coffee fruit, and successfully assures the wholesomeness and safety of coffee fruit for human consumption.
Today, CoffeeBerry® Whole Coffee Fruit products and processes are covered by one or more of the following issued US patents: US 6,572,915, US 7,754,263, US 7,807,205, US 7,815,959, and US 7,959,957, as well as a number of pending US and foreign applications.
“As a large-scale food and nutritional supplement manufacturer, and as an industry research and development leader with many issued patents for nutraceutical, functional foods, and beverage technologies, FutureCeuticals takes great pride in the potential contributions to human nutrition embodied in our stable of intellectual property. The technologies embodied in the CoffeeBerry® brand perhaps represent the most remarkable and formidable of our various contributions to date,” said FutureCeuticals’ General Manager John M. Hunter.
“It is our dedicated mission to protect and enforce our patent rights in CoffeeBerry® and in our suite of proprietary products, not only for our own sake, but for the sake of our clients and partners who market individual products and whole product lines powered by our exclusive technologies.” Mr. Hunter added that in addition to the pending lawsuit against the makers of the KonaRed™ products, VDF FutureCeuticals has sent and will continue to send out cease and desist letters and other correspondence as legally appropriate to various other companies selling coffee fruit products that infringe VDF FutureCeutical’s already issued or pending patent applications.