SAN MARCOS, Calif.—Natural Alternatives International (NAI) has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, against Woodbolt Distribution (dba Cellucor) and two Woodbolt contract manufacturers, FHG (dba Integrity Nutraceutical) and Vitaquest International. The suit alleges the defendants makes and sells products that fall under the protection of NAI's U.S. patent (No. 8,067,381) covering the use of beta-alanine for increased anaerobic working capacity in tissues.
In addition to methods and compositions for increasing the anaerobic working capacity of muscle and other tissues, the patent provides methods for increasing the buffering capacity of muscles and decreasing muscle fatigue.
The lawsuit also alleges the defendants—who are not licensed or authorized to use NAI's intellectual property, nor do they purchase beta-alanine from Compound Solutions, Inc., a non-exclusive licensee of NAI's CarnoSyn® beta-alanine—contribute to and induce others to infringe on one or more claims of NAI's patent. The suit seeks a judgment of willful infringement, in addition to injunctive relief, damages for past infringement, a constructive trust and increased and treble damages for willful infringement.
"NAI has repeatedly emphasized that it will vigorously develop, grow and enforce its patents that include claims covering human dietary supplements containing beta-alanine," said Mark A. LeDoux, CEO and chairman of the board at NAI.
NAI has also filed similar suits against BPI Sports Holding and IMage Sports (dba Image Nutrition) for infringing upon the same beta-alanine patents.
