Concat Lp v. Unilever, Plc

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO STAY PENDING ARBITRATION, DENYING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS, AND GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO DISQUALIFY DEFENDANTS’ COUNSEL

On July 2, 2004, this Court heard argument on the following motions: defendants’ motion to stay this litigation pending arbitration or, in the alternative, to dismiss the complaint on grounds of forum non conveniens, lack of in personam jurisdiction, and/or failure to join indispensable parties; and plaintiffs motion to disqualify defendants’ counsel. Having carefully considered the argument of counsel and the papers submitted, the Court hereby GRANTS defendants’ motion to stay the action pending arbitration; DENIES defendants’ motion in the alternative to dismiss; and GRANTS plaintiffs’ motion to disqualify counsel.

BACKGROUND

The dispute in this case is about intellectual property rights concerning a group of chemical compounds and methods of using those compounds in the formulation of deodorants. The compounds in question are chelators. Chelators have the active property of combining with metal ions to form further compounds, known as chelates. Due to their metal-binding properties, che-lators tend to inhibit…