Manufacturing of fipronil-based product continues despite court filing

Makhteshim Agan Group (“MAI”) and Control Solutions, Inc. (“CSI”) announce that they will continue manufacturing, marketing and sales of their fipronil-based Taurus SC product despite a recent court filing by BASF.  BASF recently filed a motion for contempt in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, alleging violation to the October 2010 Consent Judgment regarding the process patent via a material change in MAI’s manufacturing of fipronil.

MAI’s response is that there has been no change, nor any material change, in the manufacturing process of fipronil.  MAI manufactures fipronil using proprietary technology and has filed a patent application to protect its intellectual property rights to this process.  In October 2010, BASF and Bayer agreed that the MAI proprietary process used to make fipronil for Taurus SC did not infringe BASF’s process patent.  Litigation related to BASF and Bayer use patents was resolved in Makhteshim Agan North America's (MANA) and CSI’s favor earlier this year.

In June 2011, MAI’s affiliate CSI launched sales of fipronil based products under the brand names Taurus SC for the professional pest control market and Prefurred for companion animal use.

Fipronil is utilized for termite prevention and treatment, flea, ant and tick control, and as a broad-spectrum insecticide for crop markets in a variety of branded products throughout the world.  The active ingredient is used in crop protection mainly for treatment of cotton, potatoes, rice and seed treatment in addition to broad uses for non-crop applications.