BANGOR, Maine — A Portland biotechnology firm that serves the aquaculture industry has filed a lawsuit against Cooke Aquaculture Inc. and affiliated businesses, alleging patent infringements by the Canadian-based company, a leading producer of commercially raised salmon.
The lawsuit was brought by MariCal Inc. and two other companies, Europharma AS in Norway and a subsidiary, Europharma Inc. in Lazo, British Columbia. It was filed in U.S. District Court in Bangor last week.
The lawsuit names Cooke Aquaculture, which has operations in Washington County and elsewhere, and five affiliated businesses. The lawsuit makes four legal claims and seeks a jury trial for unspecified damages.
Nell Halse, a spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture, which is based in Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, declined comment on the lawsuit Friday.
David McConnell, an attorney for a Portland law firm, and Brian Moriarty, an attorney for a Boston law firm, both counsel for the plaintiffs, declined to discuss the lawsuit when contacted last week and Tuesday.
MariCal granted a license to Cooke Aquaculture to use processes under four MariCal patents, but the contract between the two companies expired in 2008, according to the lawsuit.
Each of the four legal counts — one for each patent — alleges that Cooke Aquaculture and its affiliated businesses have been and continue to infringe on the claims of the patents.
Europharma AS is the exclusive licensee of the rights to the four patents, according to the lawsuit, and Europharma Inc. is a sublicensee of those rights.
MariCal developed a technology that enables fish to sense and respond to changes in salinity and nutrients, and its discovery has been used to boost commercial salmon production around the world, according to a report by The Associated Press in 2006.
MariCal partnered with another company in 2006 to raise saltwater game fish — cobia — at indoor aquaculture facilities in Virginia with the aid of MariCal’s proprietary technology. The company also signed an agreement with a Saudi Arabian company in 2009 to boost shrimp production.
Cooke Aquaculture has salmon farms, hatcheries and a processing plant in Maine. Salmon farms are located in Eastport, Machiasport and points south, including Black Island South near Bar Harbor. Hatcheries are at Gardner Lake in Washington County and in Bingham and Oquossoc. The company operates a processing plant in Machiasport.