Sugar producer Tate & Lyle announced Tuesday that its U.S. subsidiary, Tate & Lyle Sucralose, Inc. filed a United States International Trade Commission (ITC) Case alleging patent infringement against three Chinese manufacturing groups and 18 distributors.
The filing alleges infringement of patented sucralose manufacturing technology in respect to sucralose manufactured in China and imported to the U.S. by the defendants in the case.
The defendants named in the suit are Hebei Sukerui Science and Technology Co., Ltd., Changzhou Niutang Chemical Plant Co., Ltd. and Guangdong Food Industry Institute.
In a district court lawsuit in May 2006, the company said it won “favorable settlements” with three of 10 defendants cited in that case.
“Our sucralose manufacturing technology is protected by a robust and sophisticated patent estate, which we will defend rigorously,” said Robert Gibber, General Counsel of Tate & Lyle. “As a next step after launching our federal case in 2006, we are now ready to proceed with this broader ITC Case and so extend our enforcement action to two or more Chinese manufacturing groups, who have stolen our technology, as well as their distribution networks in the U.S.”
