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NEW YORK, Nov. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Aquavit Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Aquavit") secured a long-awaited and much-deserved judgment against counterfeiters.
After nearly four years of court proceedings, the Honorable Valerie E. Caproni of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, ordered, adjudged, and decreed that Aquavit have judgment on all counts of the Verified Complaint.
The permanent injunction permanently bans the three Defendants (U-BioMed, Global Medi and the owner/operator Neon-Sik Eum) from using Aquavit’s trademarks, including AQUAGOLD® fine touch™, which is Aquavit’s novel microchannel (microinjector) drug delivery technology, based on Federal Trademark Infringement (15 U.S.C. § 1114(1)(a) & (b)) and Federal False Advertising, False Designation of Origin and Unfair Competition (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)).
Aquavit also won on the claims of Tortious Interference with Business Relations and Prospective Business Relations, Defamation, Common Law Unfair Competition, and Breach of NY GBL § 349 (deceptive and misleading business practices).
The Defendants (U-BioMed, Global Medi and the owner/operator Neon-Sik, a.k.a. Corea Eum) continued to violate the Modified Preliminary Injunction ordered by the court in 2019 and as a result, on June 10, 2022, the court found the Defendants in contempt and ordered to pay coercive sanctions to the court and pay compensatory sanctions including attorney fees to Aquavit.
The total award to Aquavit will soon be determined by the Magistrate judge the Honorable Robert W. Lehrburger. These damages and sanctions could be up to $73 million, based on the evidence submitted to the court, in addition to a conditional jail term for U-BioMed’s owner, Nyun Shi Eum a/k/a Neon-Sik Eum, due to ongoing violations of the injunction.
"We are truly grateful to the court for their careful decision in this case. U-BioMed’s egregious violations of the law not only caused significant monetary damages, but more importantly seriously harmed our reputation, our soul, and our spirit," says Sobin Chang, CEO of Aquavit. "We pray the maximum amount be awarded and a jail term for Eum in order to stop the violations so no one in the future will have to suffer from such deplorable acts."
U-BioMed has been selling fake medical devices using Aquavit’s trademarks and packaging designs all over the world. In 2019, U-BioMed was formally indicted and fined for infringement of Aquavit’s trademark in the criminal court in South Korea. Last year, the European Union Intellectual Property Office awarded Aquavit and held U-BioMed accountable and invalidated its registration of the infringing mark, declaring that it knowingly and intentionally filed a trademark and its actions to be willful and done purposefully in an effort to confuse consumers.
"The depths to which counterfeiters have gone to exploit Aquavit’s patented technology, confuse customers, and attempt to trick the legal system(s) is criminal, especially with FDA regulated medical devices," said Dr. David Shafer, CMTO of Aquavit. "It is of the utmost importance that we protect our physicians from liability and misinformation and continue to keep our patients safe."
Aquavit is a high-tech pharmaceutical 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.
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