BASF wins injunction in Brazil

BASF has won an injunction against the use by a Brazilian company of its proprietary insecticide, fipronil, in the country. A Brazilian court ordered the injunction late last month against the agrochemical company, Dexter Latina Industria e Comercio de Productos Quimica (Sao Jose dos Pinhais, Parana). Dexter Latina had used fipronil in its insecticide product, Master Gel Fipronil. The injunction prohibits the company from importing, manufacturing, using, marketing or offering the active ingredient for sale in any form. Infringement of the injunction would carry a daily penalty of R$30,000 ($17,870), BASF says.

BASF has claimed moral damages and losses for the unauthorised use of fipronil, it told Agrow. If BASF wins the lawsuit, it will be entitled to obtain indemnification from Dexter for the unauthorised use of the patent from three years before starting the legal action until Dexter stops violating the patent. Dexter is appealing against the injunction and defending itself in the main legal dispute over whether the product is patent-protected, its lawyers told Agrow. "The claimant company [BASF] will not have the prerogative to stop our client carrying out its business permanently."

BASF has sought injunctions against several companies that continue to use fipronil for agricultural and environmental health applications while it is under patent protection. It has detected several unauthorised fipronil products on the market, including baits for use against ants and gels for controlling cockroaches. BASF sells the insecticide in several products for these uses, as well as Regent 800 WG on sugar cane. It is the companys second-best selling product after the fungicide, Opera (pyraclostrobin), BASF says. The company acquired the ai from Bayer CropScience following an anti-trust ruling on Bayers acquisition of Aventis CropScience in 2002.