Cyanotech's Motion for Reconsideration Denied.Business Editors & Legal Writers KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 7, 2000 Cyanotech Corporation (Nasdaq:CYAN) today announced that on March 3, 2000, United States District Court United States District Court In the U.S., any of the 94 trial courts of general jurisdiction in the federal judicial system. Each state, as well as the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, has at least one federal district court. Judge Alan C. Kay denied Cyanotech's motion for reconsideration filed on January 14, 2000. Cyanotech had asked the Court to reconsider its order granting Aquasearch's motions for partial summary judgment of patent infringement patent infringement n. the manufacture and/or use of an invention or improvement for which someone else owns a patent issued by the government, without obtaining permission of the owner of the patent by contract, license or waiver. and misappropriation misappropriation n. the intentional, illegal use of the property or funds of another person for one's own use or other unauthorized purpose, particularly by a public official, a trustee of a trust, an executor or administrator of a dead person's estate, or by any of trade secrets. Gerald R. Cysewski, Ph.D., Cyanotech's chairman, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , said, "While we are disappointed by the Judge's denial of the motion for reconsideration, we were not completely surprised by it. We expected that it would be difficult to have the Judge reverse himself, especially in light of the lengthy decision he wrote. While we may still disagree with Verb 1. disagree with - not be very easily digestible; "Spicy food disagrees with some people" hurt - give trouble or pain to; "This exercise will hurt your back" some of the content of his decision, in some ways the Court has clarified some issues in our favor. For instance, the Court has stated more specifically what the alleged trade secrets were that were taken from Aquasearch. While it has always been our view that the technology contributed by Aquasearch to the OceanColor joint venture was simply not viable, it is clear that Cyanotech never actually used any of the information that was supposedly misappropriated mis·ap·pro·pri·ate tr.v. mis·ap·pro·pri·at·ed, mis·ap·pro·pri·at·ing, mis·ap·pro·pri·ates 1. a. To appropriate wrongly: misappropriating the theories of social science. ." Damages, if any, against Cyanotech are not expected to be material, since Aquasearch will be unable to prove that Cyanotech used any of the alleged trade secrets. Cyanotech has always believed that the technology from its OceanColor joint venture with Aquasearch was a failure, so it independently developed a new closed-culture microalgae cultivation system Cultivation System or Culture System Revenue system in the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia) that forced farmers to pay revenue to The Netherlands in the form of export crops or compulsory labour. starting with information obtained from the public domain. Cyanotech had had prior experience with smaller scale closed-culture techniques, and more broadly, closed-culture microalgae cultivation systems have been in use since the 1950's. Cyanotech's closed-culture technology has been continuously evolving and improving. Cyanotech discontinued the use of the disputed closed tubing systems in May, 1999 and has developed a radically different, greatly improved closed production system for which a Cyanotech patent application is now pending. "The Court's decisions have no bearing on our current closed-culture systems which we are using to produce our astaxanthin product," continued Dr. Cysewski. As to the Aquasearch patent, Dr. Cysewski also sees some value from the Court's decisions: "While we may disagree with the Court's logic, at least we now have a legal ruling on what Aquasearch's patent claims supposedly mean. Based on that, we believe we can prove that the Aquasearch patent is invalid, based on information that was already in the public domain. Because we may be able to invalidate Aquasearch's patent, we may wait until after a trial of the entire case to ask the appellate court A court having jurisdiction to review decisions of a trial-level or other lower court. An unsuccessful party in a lawsuit must file an appeal with an appellate court in order to have the decision reviewed. to review these issues. We certainly intend to move forward with our own trade secret misappropriation case to show that Aquasearch has misappropriated, and actually has continuously used, the open culture trade secrets that belong to Cyanotech. We believe that Aquasearch should not be entitled to use and benefit from our extensive and proprietary expertise in the open culture production of microalgae." Cyanotech Corporation produces high-value natural products from microalgae, and is the world's largest commercial producer of natural astaxanthin from microalgae. Products include BioAstin(TM), a natural astaxanthin product for use as a human nutritional supplement; NatuRose(TM) natural astaxanthin used in the worldwide aquaculture aquaculture, the raising and harvesting of fresh- and saltwater plants and animals. The most economically important form of aquaculture is fish farming, an industry that accounts for an ever increasing share of world fisheries production. and animal feed industry; Spirulina spirulina Any cyanobacteria in the genus Spirulina. A traditional food source in parts of Africa and Mexico, spirulina is an exceptionally rich source of vitamins, minerals, and protein, and one of the few nonanimal sources of vitamin B12. Pacifica(TM), a nutrient-rich dietary supplement; and phycobiliproteins, which are fluorescent pigments used in the immunological diagnostics market. Cyanotech is the only microalgae company in the world to have an ISO (1) See ISO speed. (2) (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, www.iso.ch) An organization that sets international standards, founded in 1946. The U.S. member body is ANSI. 9002 Registered Quality System. SAFE HARBOR Safe Harbor 1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated. 2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive. : Except for statements of historical fact, the statements in this press release are forward-looking. Such statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. These factors include, but are not limited to, general economic conditions, changes in sales levels to our largest customers, weather patterns, risks associated with the acceptance of new products, competition, and other factors more fully detailed in the company's recent quarterly 10-Q and annual 10-K filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Note: Corporate information and product sales at www.cyanotech.com |
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