(Food Production Daily) -- Austrian bottle and preform producer Alpla said it has secured an important legal victory in its battle with Italian company Cobarr over a disputed PET patent. Alpla said that the German Patent Court had revoked Cobarr's European patent 0 964 031 with all claims directed to a polyester resin having average nylon domain sizes between 0.2 and less than 1 micron except for those requiring premixing with and/or the presence of a dianhydride. The decision only has jurisdiction in Germany.
Cobarr is a subsidiary of Milan-based M&G (Mossi & Ghisolfi) Group. A company spokesman confirmed the firm would be appealing the decision.
But Alpla signalled its determination to continue with the legal battle.
The Austrian company employs almost 11,000 employees at 128 plants in 37 countries. It manufacturers bottle, performs, caps and tubes, posting a turnover in 2009 of ┬2.145bn.