Kaneka sues Chinese health and beauty tech firm over coQ10 patent
Japanese chemical company accuses Cocrystal of stealing its coQ10 formula for a health supplement | Kaneka says it's willing to sue customers of the accused product as well.
A Japanese chemical manufacturing company is suing a health and beauty technology firm based in China over one of its patents related to coenzyme Q10.
In a lawsuit filed in New York on October 5, Kaneka claims that Cocrystal Technology sells a health supplement called Crystal QH containing reduced coenzyme Q10, also known as ubiquinol.
The patent in dispute, US number 7,829,080 titled “Stabilization Method of Reduced Coenzyme Q10”, was issued to Kaneka by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2010.
The firm sells the product under the Kaneka QH brand name, as a dietary supplement sold as capsules.
Kaneka claims that it is the only company with the legal right to manufacture and sell ubiquinol in the US, and says that it currently holds more than 37 patents issued by the USPTO covering its CoQ10 technology and products.
Stabilising technology
CoQ10, which is a naturally occurring compound in humans, takes two forms: oxidised CoQ10, also known as ubiquinone; and reduced CoQ10, or ubiquinol.
Ubiquinol has greater bioavailability than ubiquinone, but it quickly oxidises and converts to ubiquinone when exposed to air. This, says Kaneka, has led the firm to develop the technology to stabilise ubiquinol to prevent this from happening.
The company says that it began manufacturing and selling ubiquinol in the US in 2007.
Meanwhile, it alleges that Cocrystal offered to sell the accused product to US firm Tishcon Corporation as early as July 2022.
Cocrystal describes Crystal QH on its website as patented technology; “a much more stable & improved bioavailable form of ubiquinol CoQ10 in powder form. Outperforms the current ubiquinol market leader & at a better cost value”.
Sample analysis
Upon analysing samples provided by Cocrystal to Tishcon, Kaneka discovered that the product contained a composition containing 86.2% reduced coenzyme Q10.
The company also found a composition within the product in which the proportion of reduced coenzyme Q10 relative to the total amount of coenzyme Q10 was 93.1%.
The samples also contained both reduced coenzyme Q9 and reduced coenzyme Q11, according to Kaneka.
After this, the Osaka-based company alleges that Cocrystal attended a tradeshow in the US, offering to sell the product to “multiple vendors, including Tishcon” for between $400 and $600 per kilogram.
Kaneka again says that it analysed the samples provided to Tishcon and determined that the accused product contained similar compositions of the coenzyme to those it found previously.
Legal action
In a press statement, Kaneka said: “The protection of Kaneka's intellectual property stands as a paramount cornerstone of its business.
“Kaneka's commitment to safeguarding these rights is unwavering, and it will not hesitate to take decisive legal action against anyone who fails to respect Kaneka's intellectual property, including its patents pertaining to reduced coenzyme Q10.”
The company added that it is “committed to enforcing its patent rights against any customer who purchases the accused product from CoCrystal and subsequently engages in activities such as using, selling, or offering to sell the accused product within the US”.
This, said Kaneka, may involve taking legal action against customers, either by adding them as additional defendants in the lawsuit against Cocrystal or initiating separate legal proceedings.
The complaint was filed at the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Attorneys for Kaneka are Gerald Griffin, Jodutt Basrawi, and Nilima Singh at Carter Ledyard & Milburn.
Counsel for Cocrystal have not yet appeared.
LSIPR has contacted both parties for comment, without immediate response.
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