Brea, California, April 6, 2009—The full U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has upheld an initial ITC ruling that found Niutang did not infringe Tate & Lyle's patents for manufacturing the sweetener sucralose. In an initial determination announced in September 2008, ITC Judge Charles Bullock decisively rejected Tate & Lyle's infringement allegations against both Changzhou Niutang, one of the largest global manufacturers of sucralose, and its U.S. subsidiary, US Niutang.
The ITC decision in favor of Niutang was unanimous.
"The Commission agreed with Judge Bullock that Niutang does not infringe any of the patents asserted by Tate & Lyle. We are delighted with the decision, which successfully concludes the ITC’s proceedings with a complete victory in favor of Niutang,” said Licheng Wang Jr., General Manager of Changzhou Niutang.
Niutang is one of the most experienced global manufacturers of sucralose. The company’s established track record is built upon the highest standards of quality control, with products that are:
·Manufactured according to cGMP requirements as stated in CFR 21 Part 110
·Produced to meet all quality specifications required by current FCC
·Moody International ISO 9001:2000/cGMP/HACCP certified
·Kosher and Halal certified
·Registered with the U.S. FDA in accordance with the Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002
“Our focus on delivering excellent quality and customer service, backed by our investments in research and development, product customization, and state-of-the-art manufacturing, has steadily attracted more customers,” noted Wang. “Niutang’s client base now spans North America, Central America, South America, Europe and Asia. We have recently completed expansion of our sucralose capacity to 300 metric tons to be able to meet the needs of our customers worldwide, and we are poised to grow even more robustly going forward.”
During the ITC discovery process, which included a rigorous inspection of Niutang’s manufacturing facility and a two-week hearing before the Administrative Law Judge in February 2008, Niutang demonstrated that the process it has developed to manufacture sucralose does not violate any of the three patents at issue in the hearing. A fourth patent was voluntarily dismissed by Tate & Lyle before the hearing began. While the ITC is issuing limited exclusion orders against certain companies that defaulted or did not participate in the investigation, the ITC’s notice specifically excludes Niutang sucralose from those orders.
Niutang was represented in the ITC investigation by a team from Bingham McCutchen LLP led by Gary Hnath.