Correction appended

Brandeis and GFA Brands, Inc. are plaintiffs in a patent suit against 13 large and small cookie companies in the Midwest. The lawsuit claims that these companies have infringed on the patents held by Brandeis and licensed to GFA Brands relating to the formula used in Smart Balance, a buttery spread created based on research conducted at Brandeis on lipid metabolism in the 1990s.

Companies named as defendants in the case include cookie manufacturers such as East Side Ovens, Inc., Nestlé USA, Inc., the Pillsbury Company and Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Company, L.L.C., among others.

"It is a common business practice for patent licensees, such as GFA, to file patent infringement suits to protect their exclusivity," wrote Associate Provost for Innovation and Executive Director of Technology Licensing Irene Abrams in an email to the Justice. Abrams explained that Brandeis is part of the suit because it holds the patents in question, but GFA is the exclusive licensee and therefore is "leading the prosecution of the suit."

The "exclusive licensee has the right to prevent others from using the patented technology. … The legal method for doing that is to file an infringement suit," wrote Abrams.  

Research conducted by Prof. K.C. Hayes (BIOL) and Prof. Daniel Perlman (PHYS) in the 1990s resulted in a discovery of a certain "ratio of saturated to polyunsaturated fats that is healthier based on cholesterol profile than polyunsaturated fats alone," wrote Abrams. This discovery led to the formulation of Smart Balance.

Brandeis filed for a patent on the formula and GFA became the exclusive licensee in 1996, according to Abrams. In 1998, the patent application was issued, she added.

According to the lawsuit, the inventions covered by the patents in question are "directed to fats and fat blends that decrease low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) and increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) in the human serum. This adjustment of the LDL/HDL ratio by the claimed inventions in the Patents-in-Suit results in significant health benefits." Brandeis and GFA have provided "the defendants identified above with actual and/or constructive notice of their infringement," according to the suit.

East Side Ovens declined to comment on the matter.

According to a Nov. 2010 BrandeisNOW press release, the University "has nearly 300 active patents and 53 active license agreements." The Smart Balance brand of products is "the largest single source of patent royalties."

In 2008, Smart Balance and Brandeis entered into a multi-year, sponsored research agreement that would provide $1 million for research, to be paid out over the course of 10 years, according to a Nov. 2008 BrandeisNOW press release. "The deal is one of the largest industry-sponsored research agreements in Brandeis' history," said Abrams in the release.  

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Prof. Dan Perlman (BIOL) was involved in the research that led to the creation of Smart Balance. In fact, it was Prof. Daniel Perlman (PHYS) whose research led to the discovery.