Starmark Laboratories wins patent lawsuit vs/ Creative Compounds
by Anthony Roberts
On June 24, 2011, in one of the longest running legal battles I’ve ever seen in the nutritional industry, Starmark Laboratories prevailed over Creative Compounds. The lawsuit involved the Starmark Laboratories patent on DiCreatine Malate, which was issued a single razor-thin month before the Creative Compounds patent was issued, although the patent seems to have been filed much further in advance of the discrepancy of issuance.
You probably don’t recognize Starmark Laboratories, but you will likely recognize the guy who owns it, Matt Boldt – the CEO of SAN Corp. And don’t worry if you don’t recognize the Creative Compounds name, because you’ll almost certainly recognize the name of the guy behind that one too – Derick Cornelius of S103 and Syntrax fame – the guy who filed the ill-fated and ill-advised lawsuit versus Bodybuilding.com and their members (and saw their BB.com sales drop like a rock, while simultaneously creating unprecedented online hostility towards their brand).
So in the end, Starmark and Boldt has won the last battle in what has been a very lengthy war. I’ve attached the decision in full, so you can read it for yourself. I’m not a lawyer, so take a look and make your own decision – I looked it over and it seemed to be a solid decision based on great arguments from San/Starmark.
I will, however, note that some of what I read in the final judgment is completely and absurdly off base, with regards to the bioavailability of Creatine Monohydrate being poor. Bioavailability of creatine monohydrate is close to 100% (references: 1,2,3), and to be honest, the island of lost creatines is full of stuff that never worked as well as monohydrate (ethyl ester) or didn’t produce a statistically significant improvement (pyruvate, citrate, etc…) over the original.
Persky AM, Müller M, Derendorf H, Grant M, Brazeau GA, Hochhaus G. Single- and multiple-dose pharmacokinetics of oral creatine. J Clin Pharmacol. 2003;43:29–37. doi: 10.1177/0091270002239703.
Chanutin A. The fate of creatine when administered to man. J Biol Chem. 1926;67:29–41.
Deldicque L, Décombaz J, Zbinden Foncea H, Vuichoud J, Poortmans JR, Francaux M. Kinetics of creatine ingested as a food ingredient. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2008;102:133–143. doi: 10.1007/s00421-007-0558-9