Glykon Technologies Group Litigation Against Renaissance Herbs, Inc. and Its President, Alex S. Moffett
August 22, 2006
LAS VEGAS, Aug /PRNewswire/ -- A new judge has been assigned in the lawsuit filed by Glykon Technologies Group LLC (Las Vegas, NV; http://www.glykon.com) against Renaissance Herbs, Inc. of Chatsworth, California and its president, Alex S. Moffett (also known as S. Alexander Moffett and Scott A. Moffett). Renaissance Herbs’ fully owned subsidiaries also potentially affected by the lawsuit are Ayurceutics (Chatsworth, California) and Dhanvantari Botanicals Pvt. Ltd. (India). The complaint was filed March 15, 2005 as Glykon Technologies Group, LLC v. Renaissance Herbs, Inc., et al. in Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. BC 330334. The filing of litigation followed Glykon's termination on February 4, 2005 of a licensing agreement granting use of certain Glykon intellectual property to Renaissance Herbs, Inc. (“RHI”). Termination notice was published on the Natural Products Insider (NPI Center) internet site on March 2, 2005 and on the Natural Products Industry Insider website (In-The-News) on April 25, 2005. On April 11, 2005 RHI published a response on the NPI Center that failed to mention the active litigation, but notice of the Complaint can be found in the “Comments” thereto.
Inter alia, the Complaint alleges fraud, breach of contract, and failure to provide accounting either according to the ordinary terms of the contract or when specifically requested and required in response to termination. RHI, further, has attempted to misappropriate certain IP belonging to Glykon and made filings to the USPTO not fully listing the rightful inventors. Glykon is seeking Declaratory Relief, Accounting, and Rescission as well as punitive and exemplary damages. In addition to the current litigation, Glykon intends to pursue all those parties who knowingly aided and abetted RHI in its attempts to misappropriate Glykon IP, including any improper USPTO filing(s).
RHI failed to reveal before, during or after termination of the licensing agreement the results of safety tests where one or more hydroxycitric acid (HCA) products that it had supplied to Nippon Shinyaku of Japan had resulted in potentially serious toxicity findings. The home page of Japanese Ministry of Health and Labor Welfare (JMHLW) gives the first official announcement from the JMHLW dated on March 7th, 2002 describing toxicity findings based upon a product made by Renaissance Herbs and supplied to Nippon Shinyaku of Japan. The announcement is an interim report of a technical study dated on Feb. 4th, 2002 and can be found at the following web site (in Japanese): http://www.mhlw.go.jp/topics/2002/03/tp0307-1.html. A second and full finding of toxicity using a product manufactured by Renaissance Herbs for Nippon Shinyaku was published in January 2005 in the following article, although the data would have been available much earlier in Japan: Saito M, Ueno M, Ogino S, Kubo K, Nagata J, Takeuchi M. High dose of Garcinia cambogia is effective in suppressing fat accumulation in developing male Zucker obese rats, but highly toxic to the testis. Food Chem Toxicol. 2005 Mar;43(3):411-9. A full discussion of HCA safety as well as most of the Japan NIHN documents reporting the above-mentioned toxicity findings can be found via this link: http://www.glykon.com/page8/page8.html
RHI also failed to provide to Glykon important information regarding the company’s financial health. This information includes the fact that on February 13, 1997 the Van Nuys Municipal Court, LA County (CA) rendered a civil judgment (#96EO2325) against RHI for failure to pay debt. Likewise, RHI did not notify Glykon it had made a California UCC filing (#0327960047, filing date October 2, 2003).
RHI has been and continues to be the object of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) action and investigation. One open complaint focuses on resolving issues surround the toxicity reported in Japan with hydroxycitric acid products supplied by Renaissance Herbs. Queries for further information regarding FDA actions and investigations, including Complaint Number 31204, can be directed to:
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Office of Information Resource Management
Division of Freedom of Information
5600 Fisher Lane
Rockville, MD 2058
Fax number: (301) 443-1726