SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, December 19, 2013 —Heraeus Kulzer, LLC, the worldwide leader in dental esthetics, successfully brought suit against Omni Dental Supply, aka ABCO Dental Supply ("Omni"), a large online distributor of dental products. The company asserted in its complaint that the products sold online by Omni were both unlawful grey market goods and of inferior in quality to those sold by Heraeus Kulzer.
As part of a resolution of the suit, Omni, a New York based company, agreed to pay Heraeus Kulzer a monetary settlement and further agreed to stop any and all buying, selling, advertising, offering for sale, distributing, importing, shipping or in any way trading in any Heraeus Kulzer products, either domestically or abroad.
This lawsuit was the product of a strategic importation agreement between Heraeus Kulzer and its parent company, Heraeus Kulzer, GmbH, entered into in early 2011. Through this agreement, Heraeus Kulzer legally acquired the sole rights to be the exclusive importer of Heraeus Kulzer-branded dental products into North America. The agreement similarly provided Heraeus Kulzer with the legal rights it needed to suppress unlawful grey market sales of its dental products.
“This agreement provided the trademark rights to contest any unauthorized or grey market Heraeus Kulzer-branded products from entering North America,” explains Chris Holden, President of Heraeus Kulzer.
“Because the quality of grey market product is often compromised, we feel it is vital to stay abreast of any potential grey market activity for the sake of our customers and ultimately their patients,” he continues. “This suit has demonstrated that these grey market activities are wrong and can be stopped.”
Heraeus Kulzer is the sole manufacturer and distributor of numerous well-known dental products under the following trademarks: Venus, Charisma, Durafill, Solitaire, Gluma, iBond, Flexitime, Pala, Modern Materials, Ivory, Provil Novo and many others.