NIR Diagnostics, Inc, an Ontario based medical device company, has just announced that they have terminated their Licensing Agreement with Shaklee over claims that Shaklee has breached the terms of the Agreement by failing to pay NIR invoices on time.
If you remember, we told you just a week ago Shaklee and NIR had joined together in a patent infringement suit against Masimo over claims that Masimo infringed on technology related to a non invasive medical device that NIR had licensed for use to Shaklee. While that case was settled, it seems that they partnership between NIR and Shaklee has broken down.
Shaklee Corp and NIR entered into an Exclusive License Agreement two years ago, August 2006. The agreement between NIR and Shaklee allowed Shaklee to use technology related to NIR’s patented non invasive medical devices NIR was very excited about the agreement and was looking forward to a lucrative partnership. Duncan J. MacIntyre, NIR Diagnostics President, CEO and Executive Vice Chairman released a statement in August 2006 expressing his excitement over the agreement, “With sales in the global nutraceuticals industry projected to reach $187 billion by 2010, and with only expensive and time consuming laboratory testing available to monitor the impact of these products, this market is an ideal application of our non-invasive technology,”
Shaklee used NIR’s technology as part of their internal testing of nutritional products. The pain free devices from NIR allowed Shaklee scientists to develop better products and allowed them to test their products in a non-invasive pain free way.
NIR claims that Shaklee violated the terms of the agreement by failing to pay amounts due to the company on time. Shaklee disputes all claims and is adamant that they in no way breached the terms of the contract.
Popularity: 2% [?]
The settlement was reached without Masimo incurring any liability to either Shaklee or NIR.
