Natural Inc., PharmaNutrients End Arbitration

Natural Inc., PharmaNutrients End Arbitration

VERNON HILLS, Ill., and LAKE BLUFF, Ill.--Natural Inc., basedin Vernon Hills, Ill., and PharmaNutrients, based in Lake Bluff, Ill., endedtheir year-long arbitration over a supply agreement between the parties. Thedecision issued by the American Arbitration Association found that theSupply/License Agreement for conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) created between thecompanies was affirmed as valid, while breach of agreement claims made byPharmaNutrients (www.pharmanutrients.com)against Natural Inc. (www.tonalin.com) weredenied.

"We are pleased and feel vindicated with the result of the panel'sruling, which has demonstrated that Natural Inc. has not breached any of itsobligations in supplying only licensed CLA product," stated DidrikHerlofson, vice president of Natural Inc. "Natural Inc. will continue tovigorously protect the business agreements that have been established to protectfair business practices involving patented CLA product. In the long term,defending against infractions to our business agreements protects both ourmanufacturing customers and consumers." Natural Inc. supplies Tonalin CLA.

PharmaNutrients supplies CLA One brand CLA. "It is satisfying to havethe arbitration process confirm the Supply/License Agreement that ensures thatPharmaNutrients continues to have full access to the WARF-related CLApatents," said Mark Notoli, president of PharmaNutrients. "PharmaNutrientslost the battle but, in reality, won the war. Natural's efforts to forcePharmaNutrients out of the CLA market have failed. ... From this point forward,we will be building CLA One market share through aggressive pricing and productinnovation."