Court orders Olive Lifesciences to pay Sami-Sabinsa $2.2 million for willful infringement

Sami-Sabinsa Group, a leader in curcumin for the dietary supplements industry, has prevailed on all counts in its long-running patent-infringement lawsuit against Olive Lifesciences, which was filed in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey on July 30, 2014. The lawsuit alleged that Olive was selling and distributing products that infringed Sami-Sabinsa’s Curcumin C3 Complex Patent, US Patent No. 5,861,415, which protects compositions, methods of use, and methods of extraction of Sabinsa’s Curcumin ingredient in the US. The court determined that Olive "acted willfully in infringing Plaintiff’s protected product." Accordingly, the court ruled against Olive and in favour of Sami-Sabinsa in the amount of $2,233,258.90.

"For years, the group has invested substantially in developing its intellectual property portfolio and conducting science-based research. The result has been superior products that some unscrupulous suppliers have unlawfully imitated," said James H Hulme, a Partner at Arent Fox, who represents Sami-Sabinsa in IP infringement matters. "The multi-million dollar judgement against Olive should send a loud and clear message that Sami-Sabinsa will aggressively protect its investment to the fullest extent of the law, and that infringers will be called to account for their infringement of group’s intellectual property," Hulme further noted.

Curcumin C3 Complex is a registered trademark and patented product of Sami-Sabinsa Group, and is protected under US Patent No. 5,861,415, International Patents and Patents Pending. The name C3 Complex was chosen to represent the ingredient’s three main chemical compounds: Curcumin, Demethoxycurcumin and Bisdemethoxycurcumin, collectively known as Curcuminoids. Curcumin C3 Complex is a specific mixture of Curcuminoids, making it a unique form of Curcumin quite different from generic Curcumin extracts. It has been used in more clinical studies than any other Curcumin ingredient in the world.