Syngenta wins permanent injunction in pesticide clash
A US district court has granted Swiss agribusiness Syngenta a permanent injunction against pesticide maker Willowood, two months after Syngenta secured nearly $1 million in damages from a jury verdict.
In September, a jury at the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina awarded Syngenta $975,600 after finding that Willowood had infringed four patents for the pesticide azoxystrobin.
The patents at issue were US numbers 5,602,076; 5,633,256; 5,847,138; and 8,124,761. Syngenta had sued Willowood in March 2015.
Syngenta has manufactured and sold azoxystrobin products under the Abound, Heritage, Quilt Xcel and Quadris trade names.
The jury found that Willowood had infringed one of Syngenta’s patents for processes related to the creation of the pesticide (the ‘761 patent), awarding $900,000 in damages for this infringement.
It also found that Willowood should pay $75,600 for infringing Syngenta’s patents relating to the chemical compound itself.
Willowood began selling its generic azoxystrobin fungicides in 2014.
After the jury verdict in its favour, Syngenta sought a permanent injunction against Willowood, while Willowood sought an order allowing it to market infringing products imported before the jury’s verdict.
On Monday, November 20, District Judge Catherine Eagles granted Syngenta an injunction.
“Willowood’s infringement has caused Syngenta irreparable harm, in that Syngenta lost sales and had to lower its prices to meet Willowood’s generic prices, resulting in price erosion.
“Even with an injunction, Syngenta will not be able to raise its prices back to pre-infringement levels,” said Eagles.
She added that without an injunction, “prices are likely to erode further and Syngenta’s reputation would be harmed to some extent if its customers believe it does not enforce its IP rights”.
Eagles also denied Willowood’s request to sell azoxystrobin imported into the US before the jury’s verdict.
Vern Hawkins, president of Syngenta, said: "This outcome enforces IP rights that provide the incentive for innovators like Syngenta to continue investing and developing solutions growers need to remain productive and competitive."
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