f'real foods Wins Permanent Injunction Against Patent Infringers Hamilton Beach and Hershey Creamery

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Jul 22, 2020, 15:15 ET

EMERYVILLE, Calif., July 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- f'real foods, LLC, a subsidiary of Rich Products, was awarded a permanent injunction by Judge Colm F. Connolly of Delaware U.S. District Court against patent infringers Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc. and Hershey Creamery Co. The permanent injunction mandates that Hershey Creamery Co. must remove all Hamilton Beach MIC2000 blenders from the U.S. market within the next 30 days.

This ruling arises from a May 2019 verdict in which a federal jury determined that Hamilton Beach Brands and Hershey Creamery Co. infringed on three of f'real's self-cleaning blender patents. Four previous attempts by Hamilton Beach Brands to invalidate f'real's self-cleaning blender patents at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals were unsuccessful.

"Judge Connolly's ruling underscores the importance of laws created to protect intellectual property in the United States and the companies whose businesses, like f'real, are built and rely on innovation," said Allison Lewin, SVP Sales & Marketing, f'real foods. "We hope this sends a clear and strong message that we will always defend our proprietary inventions and will not allow others to illegally infringe on f'real's patented technology."

The law firms of Sideman & Bancroft LLP of San Francisco and Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell LLP of Delaware represented f'real in the lawsuit. Hershey Creamery Co. is not affiliated with Hershey's Chocolate.

About f'real foods, LLC
Established in 1998, f'real foods designs, sells and markets blended frozen beverages in more than 19,000 locations across the U.S. and Canada including convenience stores, military bases and colleges & universities. f'real's patented in-store blending systems blends delicious and authentic milkshakes, smoothies and protein shakes at the touch of a button in about a minute! f'real launched its patented self-cleaning blender involved in the lawsuit in 2003, providing consumers with the ability to quickly prepare their own milkshakes and smoothies, while offering operators the convenience of automatic sanitization. Since its inception, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded the f'real 16 U.S. patents for its innovative self-serve blender technologies. As the #1 frozen novelty offering in convenience stores, f'real's success can be attributed to continued innovation in the category and high quality products. f'real foods is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rich Products Corporation and is based in Emeryville, CA. For more information, visit freal.com.

SOURCE Rich Products Corporation