L’Oreal’s anti-wrinkle cosmetics infringe, claims GlycoBioSciences

Canadian pharmaceutical company  GlycoBioSciences has sued cosmetics giant  L’Oreal, alleging that the French company’s anti-wrinkle products containing hyaluronic acid infringe two patents.

The lawsuit, filed against L’Oreal and subsidiary  Vichy Laboratories on Monday, May 9, claims that three products from each brand use formulations covered by two Glyco patents.

The patents in suit are US patents 9,821,005 and 10,322,142, which are both called “Matrix Compositions Comprising a High Concentration of Bio-fermented Sodium Hyaluronate and Uses Thereof”.

The  US Patent and Trademark Office issued the patents in November 2017 and June 2019 respectively. Both patents are co-terminus and will expire on August 5, 2035.

According to the lawsuit, Glyco approached the two French cosmetic companies with offers to license the patents but was refused. Glyco singles out L’Oreal’s Revitalift 1.5% Pure Hyaluronic Acid; 1.5% HA Revitalift; and Revitalift Filler 1.5% Hyaluronic Acid Serum as containing “high concentrations of hyaluronic acid in a polymer matrix” which infringes claims in the patents.

It also noted that Vichy’s Liftactiv Supreme H.A. Wrinkle Filler 1; Liftactiv HA Wrinkle Filler 1ml; and Liftactiv Supreme Night 1.5ML also infringe. Glyco seeks a judgment declaring that the defendants willfully infringed the Glyco patents and a permanent injunction barring the sale of infringing products.

In February, L’Oreal was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging that the company duped consumers into “overpaying” for their cosmetics by misleading them into believing that they are made in France.