ORANGE, N.J. – As part of the terms of a confidential settlement, Parry, a business unit within the Murugappa Group, a business conglomerate in India, acknowledged the validity of LycoRed patents regarding tomato lycopene products and related manufacturing processes, LycoRed said Nov. 4.  Following the settlement, Parry, which previously had withdrawn its lycopene products from the U.S. market, said it now will offer them again.

LycoRed, which has a U.S. office in Orange, filed for patent infringement in March 2012 against U.S. Nutraceuticals L.L.C., E.I.D. Parry (India) Ltd. and Parry Phytoremedies  PVT, Ltd. (collectively “Parry”). The patents were U.S. Nos. 6,515,018; 5,837,311 and 5,965,183. LycoRed globally offers proprietary nutrients for use in the dietary supplement, functional food and beverage, and nutria-cosmetic industries.

“LycoRed invests millions of dollars in researching the efficacy and safety of its proprietary ingredients,” said Morris Zelkha, chief executive officer of LycoRed. “It continues to differentiate itself from other companies in the market by using its proprietary processes to manufacture lycopene and unique compositions. Our patented Lyc-O-Mato is the only natural tomato lycopene extract in the market with bioactivity, safety, toxicity and efficacy supported by clinical studies.”

Sajiv Menon, business head of Parry, said, “This settlement allows Parry to continue to offer lycopene products as part of its portfolio of quality ingredient sourcing alternatives to U.S. companies in the field of nutraceuticals for use in dietary supplements, functional foods, beverages and nutricosmeticals.”