Bang Energy maker Vital Pharmaceuticals’ motion to vacate a $175 million arbitration award was denied last week, clearing the way for Orange Bang and Monster Energy Company to collect damages plus a 5% royalty on all future net sales of Bang-branded products.
The award — in addition to nearly $10 million in attorney’s fees and costs — had been granted in April after family-owned beverage maker Orange Bang and Monster Energy Company successfully argued to an arbitrator that VPX was liable for breach of contract and trademark infringement by falsely claiming its products contain creatine.
The case stems from a 2009 trademark infringement filed by Orange Bang against VPX, which had granted it permission to use the Bang trademark on creatine-based products or other beverages that are marketed exclusively in vitamin and supplement channels.
Speaking at BevNET Live Summer 2022 last month, Bang’s outspoken CEO Jack Owoc dismissed the ruling as “the false ruling of a rogue arbitrator who has no background in science.”
“Never sign a contract that has arbitration, because it’s a circumvention of the legal system,” he said. “Don’t sign it. Go to court. Due process.”
In his June 30 decision confirming the arbitration award, Judge Dale S. Fischer wrote, “The arbitrator in this case appears to have taken great care with both the factual issues and the law.”
“In short, there is no basis to find that the award was ‘completely irrational’ or that the arbitrator engaged in ‘manifest disregard of the law,’” he wrote. “At most, Plaintiffs’ arguments suggest that the arbitrator may have been incorrect in his rulings, but that falls far short of the standard for vacating an arbitration award.”
Owoc did not respond to a request for comment.