Commitments and Contingencies | Legal proceedings - Elysium Health, LLC (A) California Action On December 29, 2016, ChromaDex, Inc. filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, naming Elysium Health, Inc. (together with Elysium Health, LLC, “Elysium”) as defendant (the “Complaint”). On January 25, 2017, Elysium filed an answer and counterclaims in response to the Complaint (together with the Complaint, the “California Action”). Over the course of the California Action, the parties have each filed amended pleadings several times and have each engaged in several rounds of motions to dismiss and one round of motion for judgment on the pleadings with respect to various claims. Most recently, on November 27, 2018, ChromaDex, Inc. filed a fifth amended complaint that added an individual, Mark Morris, as a defendant. Elysium and Morris (“the Defendants”) moved to dismiss on December 21, 2018. The court denied Defendants’ motion on February 4, 2019. Following the court’s February 4, 2019 order, the claims that ChromaDex, Inc. presently asserts in the California Action, among other allegations, are that (i) Elysium breached the Supply Agreement, dated June 26, 2014, by and between ChromaDex, Inc. and Elysium (the “pTeroPure® Supply Agreement”), by failing to make payments to ChromaDex, Inc. for purchases of pTeroPure® and by improper disclosure of confidential ChromaDex, Inc. information pursuant to the pTeroPure® Supply Agreement, (ii) Elysium breached the Supply Agreement, dated February 3, 2014, by and between ChromaDex, Inc. and Elysium, as amended (the “NIAGEN® Supply Agreement”), by failing to make payments to ChromaDex, Inc. for purchases of NIAGEN® and by improper disclosure of confidential ChromaDex, Inc. information pursuant to the NIAGEN® Supply Agreement, (iii) Defendants willfully and maliciously misappropriated ChromaDex, Inc. trade secrets concerning its ingredient sales business under both the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act and the Federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, (iv) Morris breached two confidentiality agreements he signed by improperly stealing confidential ChromaDex, Inc. documents and information, (v) Morris breached his fiduciary duty to ChromaDex, Inc. by lying to and competing with ChromaDex, Inc. while still employed there, and (vi) Elysium aided and abetted Morris’s breach of fiduciary duty. ChromaDex, Inc. is seeking damages and interest for Elysium’s alleged breaches of the NIAGEN® Supply Agreement and pTeroPure® Supply Agreement and Morris’s alleged breaches of his confidentiality agreements, compensatory damages and interest, punitive damages, injunctive relief, and attorney’s fees for Defendants’ alleged willful and malicious misappropriation of ChromaDex, Inc.’s trade secrets, and compensatory damages and interest, disgorgement of all benefits received, and punitive damages for Morris’s alleged breach of his fiduciary duty and Elysium’s aiding and abetting of that alleged breach. Defendants filed their answer to ChromaDex, Inc.'s fifth amended complaint on February 19, 2019. Among other allegations, the claims that Elysium presently alleges in the California Action are that (i) ChromaDex, Inc. breached the NIAGEN® Supply Agreement by not issuing certain refunds or credits to Elysium, by not supplying NIAGEN® manufactured according to the defined standard, by distributing the NIAGEN® product specifications attached to the parties’ agreement to other customers, and by failing to provide Elysium with information concerning the quality and identity of NIAGEN® pursuant to the NIAGEN® Supply Agreement, (ii) ChromaDex, Inc. breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing pursuant to the NIAGEN® Supply Agreement, (iii) ChromaDex, Inc. fraudulently induced Elysium into entering into the Trademark License and Royalty Agreement, dated February 3, 2014, by and between ChromaDex, Inc. and Elysium (the “License Agreement”), (iv) ChromaDex, Inc.’s conduct constitutes misuse of its patent rights, and (v) ChromaDex, Inc. was unjustly enriched by the royalties Elysium paid pursuant to the License Agreement. Elysium is seeking damages for ChromaDex, Inc.’s alleged breaches of the NIAGEN® Supply Agreement and pTeroPure® Supply Agreement, and compensatory damages, punitive damages, and/or rescission of the License Agreement and restitution of any royalty payments conveyed by Elysium pursuant to the License Agreement, and a declaratory judgment that ChromaDex, Inc. has engaged in patent misuse. ChromaDex, Inc. filed an answer to Elysium’s restated counterclaims on March 5, 2019. Discovery closed on August 9, 2019. On August 16, 2019, the parties filed motions for partial summary judgment as to certain claims and counterclaims. The parties filed opposition briefs on August 28, 2019, and reply briefs on September 4, 2019. On October 9, 2019, among other things, the court vacated the previously scheduled trial date, ordered supplemental briefing with respect to certain issues related to summary judgment, and set the hearing on the parties’ motions for summary judgment for January 13, 2020. (B) Patent Office Proceedings On July 17, 2017, Elysium filed petitions with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for inter partes inter partes inter partes inter partes inter partes (C) Southern District of New York Action On September 27, 2017, Elysium Health Inc. ("Elysium Health") filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, against ChromaDex, Inc. (the “Elysium SDNY Complaint”). Elysium Health alleges in the Elysium SDNY Complaint that ChromaDex, Inc. made false and misleading statements in a citizen petition to the Food and Drug Administration it filed on or about August 18, 2017. Among other allegations, Elysium Health avers that the citizen petition made Elysium Health’s product appear dangerous, while casting ChromaDex, Inc.’s own product as safe. The Elysium SDNY Complaint asserts four claims for relief: (i) false advertising under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); (ii) trade libel; (iii) deceptive business practices under New York General Business Law § 349; and (iv) tortious interference with prospective economic relations. ChromaDex, Inc. denies the claims in the Elysium SDNY Complaint and intends to defend against them vigorously. On October 26, 2017, ChromaDex, Inc. moved to dismiss the Elysium SDNY Complaint on the grounds that, inter alia, its statements in the citizen petition are immune from liability under the Noerr-Pennington Doctrine, the litigation privilege, and New York’s Anti-SLAPP statute, and that the Elysium SDNY Complaint failed to state a claim. Elysium Health opposed the motion on November 2, 2017. ChromaDex, Inc. filed its reply on November 9, 2017. On October 26, 2017, ChromaDex, Inc. filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against Elysium Health (the “ChromaDex SDNY Complaint”). ChromaDex, Inc. alleges that Elysium Health made material false and misleading statements to consumers in the promotion, marketing, and sale of its health supplement product, Basis, and asserts five claims for relief: (i) false advertising under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. §1125(a); (ii) unfair competition under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); (iii) deceptive practices under New York General Business Law § 349; (iv) deceptive practices under New York General Business Law § 350; and (v) tortious interference with prospective economic advantage. On November 16, 2017, Elysium Health moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim. ChromaDex, Inc. opposed the motion on November 30, 2017 and Elysium Health filed a reply on December 7, 2017. On November 3, 2017, the Court consolidated the Elysium SDNY Complaint and the ChromaDex SDNY Complaint actions under the caption In re Elysium Health-ChromaDex Litigation, 17-cv-7394, and stayed discovery in the consolidated action pending a Court-ordered mediation. The mediation was unsuccessful. On September 27, 2018, the Court issued a combined ruling on both parties’ motions to dismiss. For ChromaDex’s motion to dismiss, the Court converted the part of the motion on the issue of whether the citizen petition is immune under the Noerr-Pennington Doctrine into a motion for summary judgment, and requested supplemental evidence from both parties, which were submitted on October 29, 2018. The Court otherwise denied the motion to dismiss. On January 3, 2019, the Court granted ChromaDex, Inc.’s motion for summary judgment under the Noerr-Pennington Doctrine and dismissed all claims in the Elysium SDNY Complaint. Elysium moved for reconsideration on January 17, 2019. The Court denied Elysium’s motion for reconsideration on February 6, 2019, and issued an amended final order granting ChromaDex, Inc.’s motion for summary judgment as on February 7, 2019. The Court granted in part and denied in part Elysium’s motion to dismiss, sustaining three grounds for ChromaDex’s Lanham Act claims while dismissing two others, sustaining the claim under New York General Business Law § 349, and dismissing the claims under New York General Business Law § 350 and for tortious interference. Elysium filed an answer and counterclaims on October 10, 2018, alleging claims for (i) false advertising under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. §1125(a); (ii) unfair competition under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a); and (iii) deceptive practices under New York General Business Law § 349. ChromaDex answered Elysium’s counterclaims on November 2, 2018. ChromaDex, Inc. filed an amended complaint on March 27, 2019, adding new claims against Elysium Health for false advertising and unfair competition under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a). On April 10, 2019, Elysium Health answered the amended complaint and filed amended counterclaims, also adding new claims against ChromaDex, Inc. for false advertising and unfair competition under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a). On July 1, 2019, Elysium Health filed further amended counterclaims, adding new claims under the Copyright Act §§ 106 & 501. The parties are currently in discovery. The Company is unable to predict the outcome of these matters and, at this time, cannot reasonably estimate the possible loss or range of loss with respect to the legal proceedings discussed herein. As of September 30, 2019, ChromaDex, Inc. did not accrue a potential loss for the California Action or the Elysium SDNY Complaint because ChromaDex, Inc. believes that the allegations are without merit and thus it is not probable that a liability has been incurred. (D) Delaware – Patent Infringement Action On September 17, 2018, ChromaDex, Inc. and Trustees of Dartmouth College filed a patent infringement complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against Elysium Health, Inc. The complaint alleges that Elysium’s BASIS® dietary supplement violates U.S. Patents 8,197,807 (the “’807 Patent”) and 8,383,086 (the “’086 Patent”) that comprise compositions containing isolated nicotinamide riboside held by Dartmouth and licensed exclusively to ChromaDex, Inc. On October 23, 2018, Elysium filed an answer to the complaint. The answer asserts various affirmative defenses and denies that Plaintiffs are entitled to any relief. On November 7, 2018, Elysium filed a motion to stay the patent infringement proceedings pending resolution of (1) the inter partes inter partes Legal proceedings – Covance Laboratories Inc. On January 10, 2019, Covance Laboratories Inc. (“Covance”) filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware against ChromaDex, Inc. and ChromaDex Analytics, Inc. (collectively “ChromaDex”). The complaint alleges that ChromaDex breached an Asset Purchase Agreement (“APA”), dated August 21, 2017, between Covance and ChromaDex in which Covance purchased certain assets related to ChromaDex’s Lab Business for $7,500,000. Specifically, the complaint alleges that ChromaDex failed to deliver to Covance its entire ComplyID library. On February 4, 2019, ChromaDex filed an answer to the complaint. The answer asserts various affirmative defenses and denies that Covance is entitled to any relief. On October 24, 2019, the parties entered into a settlement agreement. Legal proceedings – Utah Lanham Act Action On March 6, 2019, Novex Biotech LLC (“Novex”) filed an action in the Third Judicial District Court County of Salt Lake, State of Utah against ChromaDex, Inc. and 10 fictional defendants. The complaint alleges that Novex markets a dietary supplement, Oxydrene Elite, that competes with ChromaDex’s product, TRU NIAGEN. The complaint further alleges that ChromaDex, Inc. has violated the Lanham Act by making false or misleading claims for TRU NIAGEN. Novex is seeking an injunction and damages for the competitive harm it alleges to have suffered. ChromaDex, Inc. timely removed the action to federal court in the District of Utah. ChromaDex answered the complaint and also filed counterclaims against Novex under the Lanham Act and California state law. ChromaDex’s counterclaims allege that Novex has falsely advertised its product called Oxydrene. Novex moved to dismiss the counterclaims and ChromaDex has opposed this motion. Discovery in the case is ongoing and no hearing has been set for Novex’s motion to dismiss. The Company is unable to predict the outcome of this matter and, at this time, cannot reasonably estimate the possible loss or range of loss with respect to the legal proceedings discussed herein. As of September 30, 2019, ChromaDex, Inc. did not accrue a potential loss for the Utah Lanham Act action because ChromaDex, Inc. believes that the allegations are without merit and thus it is not probable that a liability has been incurred. From time to time we are involved in legal proceedings arising in the ordinary course of our business. We believe that there is no other litigation pending that is likely to have, individually or in the aggregate, a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations. |