Perrigo Wins Important Unfair Competition Case
Perrigo Company of South Carolina, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRGO; TASE) announced today that it won two favorable jury verdicts against Rexall Sundown, Inc. in an unfair competition lawsuit that was brought in the U.S. Eastern District Court of New York. The jury unanimously found that Perrigo’s statement, used on wholesalers’ and retailers’ store brand packaging for joint care products containing Glucosamine and Chondroitin, inviting consumers to compare the products to Rexall Sundown’s Osteo Bi-Flex, is not false and misleading and does not violate Section 43 of the Lanham Act.
In addition, the jury ruled in Perrigo’s favor on its false advertising counterclaim against Rexall Sundown under Section 43 of the Lanham Act based on a statement used by Rexall Sundown on packaging from 2006 to 2008. The jury determined that the Rexall Sundown statement was false and misleading and awarded Perrigo damages.
Perrigo’s Chairman and CEO Joseph C. Papa stated, “This verdict is an important victory for store brands, US retailers and consumers. The jury verdict confirms that statements on our wholesalers’ and retailers’ packaging, inviting consumers to compare store brand products to the higher priced national brand products are fair and legal. This kind of statement helps consumers to identify store brand products they want and helps them save as they choose the affordable, high-quality store brand option. We are gratified with this victory as another accomplishment in making quality healthcare more affordable to the US consumer.”
Perrigo was represented by Paul W. Garrity, Robert S. Friedman and Mark McGrath of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP and John E. Villafranco and Michael C. Lynch of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP.
Perrigo Company is a leading global healthcare supplier that develops, manufactures and distributes OTC and generic prescription (Rx) pharmaceuticals, nutritional products, active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and pharmaceutical and medical diagnostic products. The Company is the world’s largest manufacturer of OTC pharmaceutical products for the store brand market. The Company’s primary markets and locations of manufacturing and logistics operations are the United States, Australia, Israel, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Visit Perrigo on the Internet (http://www.perrigo.com).
Note: Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are subject to the safe harbor created thereby. These statements relate to future events or the Company’s future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements of the Company or its industry to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or other comparable terminology. The Company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While the Company believes these expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company’s control. These and other important factors, including those discussed under “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended June 27, 2009, as well as the Company’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made only as of the date hereof, and unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.