ThermoLife Files Lawsuit Against HumanN

ThermoLife controls at least 27 patents including 17 patents with more than 450 claims related to the uses of Nitrates and Amino Acid/nitrate compounds in supplements and foods. ThermoLife is back in the courts, this time they've filed a lawsuit against Neogenis Labs, LLC d/b/a HumanN ("HumanN").

In this lawsuit, ThermoLife clams HumanN unfairly competes with ThermoLife in the nitrate/nitrite supplementation market by falsely advertising and falsely marking its products with patent numbers that HumanN's products do not practice. According to ThermoLife, HumanN's products (SuperBeets, BeetElite, and Neo40) are heavily marketed on the internet and through television commercials spreading lies to anyone who runs a Google search for "Nitric Oxide." HumanN also claims they have the only method to test "if you are N-O [Nitric-Oxide] deficient." Accoring to ThermoLife, after tricking potential customers about the need for HumanN's "Nitric Oxide" supplements, HumanN advertises that it has the "patented" "Nobel Prize winning" cure for Nitric Oxide deficiency and in many instances, its products do not practice any patent held by HumanN.  

Nitric Oxide Indicator Strips

ThermoLife's also claims that HumanN's falsely advertised method for testing Nitric Oxide levels is not "patent pending" and that the patent they did submitt was denied three years ago. Independent peer-reviewed clinical testing performed on HumanN's "N-O Indicator Strips" showed there is no correlation between plasma NO2- and salivary NO3. In layman's terms, you cannot test whether an individual is "N-O deficient" by simply testing their saliva. 

According to ThermoLife's Complaint, HumanN's advertising makes at least four separate and distinct false claims:

1. That HumanN's top-selling SuperBeets, BeetElite, and Neo40 products practice six patents that HumanN exclusively licensed from the University of Texas.
2. That the licensed patents protect "patented Nitric Oxide technology".
3. That HumanN's research is "Nobel-Prize winning".
4. There is not any product out there, despite the dozens if not hundreds of products, Nitric Oxide products on the market (food or supplement), that do what our technology does." 

ThermoLife claims all of these advertising statements are false and HumanN's SuperBeets and BeetElite products are falsely marked with six separate patents, but the products do not practice one patent claim covered by any of the six patents. They add that HumanN's co-founder, Dr. Nathan Bryan, applied for 19 patent claims pertaining to generating Nitric Oxide. The United States Patent Office declared all 19 claims unpatentable.  

ThermoLife's further explains that because HumanN has intentionally put false and misleading information on the packaging labels of its SuperBeets, BeetElite, and Neo40 products, Federal Law dictates that SuperBeets, BeetElite, and Neo40 are all "misbranded" and therefore prohibited from being sold in interstate commerce. 

ThermoLife's founder, Ron Kramer, offered the following statement:

"ThermoLife is the market leader in nitrate/nitrite technology. Scientific evidence proves that Nitric Oxide supplements have many great health benefits. While we obviously believe in this technology, we won't mislead consumers about the benefits of our products and the products sold by the many reputable companies that license our technology. On the other hand, HumanN relies on false representation after false representation to deceive consumers into purchasing HumanN's products, instead of products sold and licensed by ThermoLife. ThermoLife holds the patents for the technology in HumanN's products, not HumanN. HumanN is stealing from ThermoLife and intentionally lying to its customers yet I personally gave HumanN every opportunity to do the right thing here before filing suit but to no avail. HumanN's thinks they are above the law and entitled to steal from us and lie to consumers. Now we will let the courts tell HumanN that they cannot be allowed to continue to trick consumers into purchasing HumanN's falsely advertised, misbranded, and infringing products. If there are any legitimate companies out there who want to fill the upcoming void and market HumanN's formulas with a license from ThermoLife, or vastly improve on HumanN's products and take the market share with our new high nitrate beet root extract, please do not hesitate to contact me."

ThermoLife's Complaint seeks an injunction, barring further false advertising by HumanN and actual damages. ThermoLife also seeks an order from the court disgorging HumanN's profits and an award of treble damages. Any Judgment against HumanN here could exceed $50,000,000.00 according to ThermoLife. 

SOURCE: PR NEWSWIRE