Koch Agronomic Services LLC filed a patent infringement complaint dated Aug. 13, 2014, against Eco Agro Resources LLC, High Point, N.C., in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Koch says Eco Agro is infringing a patent for its urease inhibitor product issued in 1997. Koch argues that under the name N-Yield, Eco Agro is making, using, selling, offering to sell, and/or importing, without authority, products including urease inhibitors comprising n-butyl thiosphosphoric triamide (NBPT) in solvents, including propylene glycol and dimethyl sulfoxide.
Urease inhibitors can be added to fertilizers to prevent nitrogen from dissipating into the groundwater or atmosphere.
“Koch values its intellectual property highly, and will defend its intellectual property from infringers in the marketplace,” Paul Baltzer, a Koch spokesman, told Green Markets last week. “With regard to the claims that Eco Agro has asserted against Koch Agronomic Services in the lawsuit, we have reviewed them carefully, and they are without merit. We are preparing a motion asking the court to dismiss Eco Agro’s claims and will file that motion on or around Oct. 23. The motion will provide important details about Koch’s legal position on Eco Agro’s allegations.”
Eco Agro answered the complaint Sept. 11, denying that Koch has any valid patent infringement claim, and countersued Koch. Eco Agro began selling its product in 2014 and says that prior to the lawsuit, Koch had provided no notice of alleged infringement.
"Eco Agro Resources was surprised by the Koch complaint, but we are taking this opportunity to stand up for our employees, industry partners, and customers,” said Andrew Semple, Eco Agro CEO. “We know our products are different, innovative, and have superior performance to the Koch products in the alleged violation. Our independent and small business culture with goals to become and act world class is attracting industry distribution to want to partner with us and participate in helping to solve the world hunger issues through implementation of fertilizers and its available technologies, such as our N-Yield nitrogen stabilizer. We feel fortunate to participate in the ag fertilizer industry and to compete with a reputable company such as Koch Agronomic Services, to help feed the world."
Over the past four years, Eco Agro says Koch has taken control of most of the technology in the field and has formed a monopoly in the urease inhibitor or stabilized nitrogen market, controlling over 80 percent of the market, which Eco Agro estimates in the $90-$110 million range in 2013. Purchases include Agrotain International and Georgia Pacific (Nitamin), as well as several products from the recently-added Agrium Advanced Technologies business.
Furthermore, Eco Agro alleges that Koch has an exclusive agreement with the Albemarle Corp., the U.S. producer of NBPT, which is used in stabilized nitrogen production. It says Koch buys NBPT only from Albemarle and Albemarle sells only to Koch, unless Koch gives its permission to supply others. As a result, Eco Agro says competitors must buy the NBPT from China, which adds costs, since NBPT is an unstable dry chemical that has significant shipping expense as it must be shipped in refrigerated containers. As a result, this added cost impacts the ability of U.S. fertilizer producers to compete.
Eco Agro also noted that Koch sued Helena Chemical Co. in 2013 over the patent, but that the suit was dismissed with a stipulation. Eco Agro says Helena continues to produce its product, and has been steered business by Koch. Eco Agro also alleges that since early 2014, urease inhibitor prices have been stable or risen. Eco Agro alleges that Koch and Albemarle control 100 percent of NBPT production in the U.S. and that this restriction is an unreasonable r