The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals Renders Decision in favor of Kaneka Corporation in the Appeal in the U.S. Patent Infringement Lawsuit Related to Coenzyme Q10

Kaneka Corporation has been in dispute with Zhejiang Medicine Co., Ltd. and ZMC-USA LLC(“ZMC) in the United States Court for the Southern District of Texas since March 2011, for patent infringement concerning Kaneka’s US patent No. 7,910,340 relating to oxidized coenzyme Q10 (Kaneka Q10™ ).

In November, 2015, the District Court in Texas granted a ZMC Motion for Summary Judgement based on ZMC’s allegation that Kaneka did not adduce evidence sufficient to prove infringement by ZMC. Kaneka strongly disagreed with the Court’s interpretation of the evidence and with the Court’s legal decision and in December 2015 appealed the decision and judgement to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals.

On January 23, 2017, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Kaneka adduced evidence sufficient for a jury to make a decision at trial and the District Court erred in granting ZMC’s Motion for Summary Judgement. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the judgement and remanded the case to the District Court. As a result of this decision, the parties will soon proceed to a status conference for the case in Texas.

Not only is the decision by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals as the legal meaning of Kaneka’s patent binding to the Texas District Court, but also on the California District Court, where Kaneka is in dispute with Xiamen Kingdomway Group Company, Pacific Rainbow International Inc., and Shenzhou Biology and Technology Co., Ltd in an infringement action for a same patent. Kaneka is preparing to proceed to a jury trial with the case in California in March, 2017.

This dispute relates to only the oxidized form of coenzyme Q10 but not to the reduced form of coenzyme Q10 ( Kaneka Ubiquinol™ ).