Aquavit Awarded 10M in Damages on Intellectual Property Against Counterfeiters

NEW YORK, March 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Aquavit Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Aquavit") today received a final award in the amount of $10,088,380.72 from the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The Honorable Valerie Caproni adopted the Report & Recommendation (R&R) of the Honorable Robert W. Lehrburger in full, including damages totaling over $10 million and an additional $7,281,000.00 in sanctions to the Court for contemptuous conduct.

The total damages included trademark infringement, counterfeiting, defamation and attorney fees and costs.

The Defendants, U-BioMed, Global Medi Products and the owner/operator Eum Nyun shik, are Korean operators who have been manufacturing, marketing and advertising counterfeit goods using Aquavit's logos, packaging designs, written materials, and digital media assets. They even printed Aquavit's FDA registration number and unrelated patent numbers on the packaging. They used social media sites to promote their counterfeit products, while defaming Aquavit and attempting to damage Aquavit's good will in the pharmaceutical industry.

In 2019, U-BioMed was formally indicted and found guilty for infringement of Aquavit's trademark in the criminal court in South Korea. Last year, the EU court held U-BioMed accountable and invalidated its registration of the infringing mark, declaring that U-BioMed knowingly and intentionally filed a trademark rightfully owned by Aquavit and its actions to be willful and done purposefully in an effort to confuse consumers. U-Biomed was also defeated in the Korean civil court recently on allegations stemming from the intellectual property.

"We take pride in all our inventions and innovations and these are unnecessarily painful steps we must take to continue to protect our product integrity, physicians, and patients," said Sobin Chang, CEO of Aquavit. "Aquavit prides itself on its outstanding technology and reputation in the pharmaceutical industry and will continue to police misconduct to safeguard itself as well as its assets."

About Aquavit

Aquavit is a high-tech healthcare company that provides a comprehensive range of innovative pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device technologies. Aquavit focuses on personalized medicine to improve patients' health, maximize the efficiency of the medical community, and support the pharmacoeconomics of payers.