Heraeus Kulzer recently brought suit against Omni Dental Supply for the unauthorized distribution of its flagship branded products Gluma®, Charisma®, Durafill® and iBond®
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.
About Heraeus Kulzer
Heraeus Kulzer GmbH is one of the world’s leading dental companies and is headquartered in Hanau, Germany. Its Dental Materials and Digital Services divisions supply dentists and dental technicians with an extensive product range, covering cosmetic dentistry, tooth preservation, prosthetics, periodontology and digital dentistry. With around 1,400 employees, Heraeus Kulzer’s 2012 sales revenues exceeded $450 million.
Heraeus Kulzer has been part of the Japanese Mitsui Chemicals Group since July 2013. Mitsui Chemicals Inc. (MCI) is based in Tokyo, and has 13,000 employees in over 90 countries worldwide. Its innovative, practical chemical products are as much in demand in the automotive, electronics and packaging industries as they are in other fields such as environmental protection and healthcare.
