Scilabs, Naturade in Legal Dispute

SANTA ANA, Calif.Scilabs Nutraceuticals filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of California, County of Orange, in early February against Naturade, a division of NNC LC, alleging misappropriation of trade secrets, fraud and breach of contract. According to court documents, Naturade contracted with Scilabs to develop formulas for certain nutritional products, but cancelled the agreement in December 2009 and worked with other organizations using the formulas. Scilabs alleges Naturade therefore breached contractual agreements and violated Scilabs intellectual property by using the proprietary formulas; Scilabs is promoting the formulas on a related site, FormulasForSale.com.

After filing the initial lawsuit, Scilabs sought a temporary restraining order (TRO) and preliminary injunction against Naturade. The request for TRO was denied in early February, and on March 3, the court turned down the request for preliminary injunction, stating Scilabs failed to establish imminent irreparable harm or the probability of prevailing in court on the merits of the case. Naturades legal counsel further told INSIDER it intends to file within the week to have the case dismissed.