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Clarifications by Anton Volpini de Maestri Verpackungs Gmbh
Staff Writer – August 18, 2006

VinotopFollowing the publication last month of an article about the ruling by the European Patent Office in favor of US-based Nomacorc, in the dispute with the European Anton Volpini de Maestri Verpackungs Gmbh, the latter contacted us requesting the publication of the following clarifications. Our goal is to provide unbiased information, thus we are glad to bring to our readers' attention the Vinotop maker's point of view.

  Synthetic stoppers are produced with three different technologies:
  1. Injection Molding Process (the first to hit the market, www.supremecorq.com)
  2. Single Extrusion Process (extremely fine cellular structure,  www.nukorc.com)
  3. Co-Extrusion Process (evolved from the injection molding process – Nomacorc, Vinotop)
The stoppers produced with the single extrusion process did not find wide acceptance, thus the two main directions followed by the synthetic stopper industry are two: injection molding and co-extrusion process. While the injection molding is the result of simple technology which many companies are able to master, the co-extrusion process applies highly specialized technology which only a few companies in the world use. Two such companies are US-based (Nomacorc and Neocork), and two are European (Anton Volpini de Maestri and Safecork).

Co-extrusion stoppers reproduce the cellular structure of the traditional cork stopper almost perfectly, thus they are extremely flexible and present consistent permeability.

Co-extrusion and screw-cap stoppers are expected to expand their market share three-fold during the next three years.
  Claudio Moretti, Sales Manager
Anton Volpini de Maestri, Verpackungs gmbh

Regarding the Nomacorc article published on your web site, we would like to clarify the following points:

  1. The validity of Nomacorc’s European patent was confirmed in the first instance only after several amendments and changes to the original patent.
  2. Anton Volpini de Maestri Verpackungs Gmbh has invested heavily in the research and development of his own product, VINOTOP, and it is our intent to defend it against any legal proceedings.
  3. Nomacorc is free to defend its proprietary technology, but we will defend our technology as well, as it is in our view, based on a different manufacturing process.
Vinotop

Globalization offers companies a myriad of new ways to improve their operational efficiency. It is a pity that a reliable company like Nomacorc is forced to proceed in such a manner against competitors.

“We would prefer to compete in the free marketplace rather than in the courtroom and to devote our full attention to the development and marketing of our synthetic stoppers VINOTOP for our European customers." said Claudio Moretti, sales manager with Anton Volpini De Maestri Verpackungs gmbh.

"We are confident that the improvement of our technology and performance in everything we do will be the right strategy."

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