U.S. Judge Reinstates Amway’s Patent Suit Against Nikken

The courtroom battle between two of the world’s largest direct-marketing companies was revived when a federal judge reinstated Amway Corp.’s patent infringement case against Nikken U.S.A. Inc. in Irvine.

Amway, based in Ada, Mich., sued Nikken in June in a federal court in Nashville, alleging that the California company was copying patented designs for a line of magnetic pads that purportedly block pain signals from reaching the brain.

Nikken countersued the multilevel marketing giant in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.

The Nashville court dismissed Amway’s case last month after the company missed a filing deadline. But the judge reinstated the case this week and set trial for October.

Nikken, a privately held distributor of nutritional supplements and relaxation products, has sales of about $1 billion a year. Amway had sales of $5.7 billion last year.