ForeverGreen take “high road” in Pruvit lawsuit

Last month we covered breaking news on Pruvit’s lawsuit against ForeverGreen.

At the center of the dispute is Axcess Global Sciences’ ketone technology.

The gist of Pruvits lawsuit alleges that Pruvit were first to sign a licensing deal with Axcess. Axcess management then sniffed out a better deal with ForeverGreen, and then sought to strike the Pruvit agreement.

This effectively muscled Pruvit out of access to Axcess Global Sciences’ technology, which Pruvit needed to source their ketone product offering.

Whereas the details of Pruvit’s allegations have been made public via filing of their lawsuit, ForeverGreen had thus far failed to issue a public statement on the matter.

Now, in a new blog titled “Breaking Silence”, ForeverGreen CEO Ron Williams has addressed the matter.

Williams (right) begins by acknowledging ForeverGreen’s lack of comment on the lawsuit, claiming it was intended discipline.

I write this letter in hopes that it finds you in the space of neutrality, unfiltered, and with a desire to be empowered by truth.

I also seek forgiveness of those who have questioned my patience, delivery and silence on this matter, which I would refer to more as discipline.

This is not personal; it’s business. Two wrongs don’t make a right. WE ARE TAKING THE HIGH ROAD.

That high road sees Williams lob pot shots at the credibility of Pruvit’s Terry Lacore, counsel Jennifer Grace and Troy Dooly.

I have no chronic history of industry ugliness in my decades of executive experience.

In fact, I suggest you do a professional background check on all parties involved, starting with me.

Those of us that can stand should stand together and stop turning a blind eye to the inappropriate behavior of those trying to wrongfully compete with companies that are trying to do it the right way.

Many have seen the below video by Troy Dooly, where he portrays himself as an expert, or even a journalist (?) and does again what apparently he does (whatever it is that he does)?

Confused? We are too.

Let’s be clear here. Mr. Dooly makes Jennifer Grace out to be “Wonder Woman”, and surely she must be a great person and attorney.

However, note that her offices are located in the bHIP offices next to Terry LaCore, bHIP owner and founder. She is on payroll, not some hire from across town, and has been for some time.

This is all evidenced as an ongoing relationship with chronic results with companies like iZigg, Rippln, EM², and now Pruvit.

There are virtual industry graveyards of innocent people who might say they were victimized by friendly fire along the way.

Mr. Dooly emailed Ron at 5:20 AM MT on Friday, September 4, 2015 asking for a comment, and then published an article a few hours later on his site.

It is well documented that on Friday, September 4, 2015 Ron, who is very high in demand, was hosting roughly 30 industry leaders that morning, and was nowhere near his emails to respond.

Plus, with four children under the age of six, morning time is not email time for Ron. Could this have been by design?

At this point, we as a company questioned Mr. Dooly’s credibility, intention, and even his motivation$.

At ForeverGreen we are extremely disappointed in what we consider industry drift and racket.

In order to test the fairness of Mr. Dooly, the following statement was released as our official response from the ForeverGreen legal department and was sent to Mr. Dooly the next day on September 5, 2014 at 7:43 PM MT, which low and behold, he never published.

Surprise, surprise. In hindsight, we wonder how much it would have cost us to have him publish our response?

In our experience, Mr. Dooly even tries to discredit Ron by taking a “breast milk” comment out of context, when on the call referenced, Ron simply mentioned that ketones could be found in breast milk.

We’re not a big fan of this type of behavior, especially when, with all due respect, he opens his commentary with God, his daughter, and her gymnastics. Does it seem calculating and manipulative to you?

The problem we have with this is that we must all take responsibility for the improvement of the industry we love.

We must all stand together against all repeat offenders who enable chronic behaviors in this industry that oftentimes hurt many.

Surely you all remember Mr. Dooly’s “non-affiliation”/affiliation with ZeekRewards, until the SEC came in and exposed his duality.

To be fair, in the video in question Dooly does disclose that Pruvit are a client of his.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that perhaps in this case a) Troy Dooly is not an expert nor a journalist, and b) that he could be up to his same old tricks.

ForeverGreen investors and shareholders are considering holding Mr. Dooly accountable; maybe a possible Groundhog Day for Mr. Dooly?

To me that sounds like the threat of lawsuit, which will be interesting considering Dooly has fully disclosed Pruvit are a client of his.

Sure money has changed hands but, unlike Zeek Rewards, Dooly has been upfront about it this time.

Fortunately, ForeverGreen is blessed to have an abundance of financial backing and professional resources.

Let’s face it, would any of us go on camera (hopefully in much better quality) and promote this type of chronic behavior for free?

Could it be possible that the university did their research too?

Under normal circumstances we would never be this detailed, but whether it’s perception or reality, could it be the same-ol, same-ol?

Framing Pruvit’s lawsuit as a potential “undustry issue”, Williams claims it’s not about (unfair) competition.

I was born as competitive as it gets, and I can’t change that. If you’re born with it, you die with it… it never leaves.

I welcome LEGAL competition. Here, that’s not the issue.

Our attorneys are paid to protect what the law provides and to pursue every legal remedy available. This is not personal. This is strictly professional.

Even through all of the public misperception, I have chosen not to trade that in for the ugliness of anger and hate. Maybe this time, kindness was mistaken for weakness.

And as to Pruvit’s claim they were first to license Axcess Global Science’s technology, here’s ForeverGreen’s rebuttal:

Ron Williams freely admits that he introduced this technology to Terry LaCore sometime in 2014.

The intent of Ron at this time was to develop a creative funding mechanism to merge two companies together on the premise that they’d use ForeverGreen’s licensed technology solely in the Chinese market where Mr. LaCore had business and Ron did not, as Ron and ForeverGreen had already purchased roughly $300,000 in raw materials (having an already signed a very specific and official Letter of Intent) prior to Ron and Mr. LaCore becoming acquainted.

It is well documented by the United States patent and trademark office, that Williams and ForeverGreen applied in 2013 for the Ketopia trademark, which was later approved. This was long before Williams and LaCore began these explorations.

From here, maybe it’s easier for most to understand the flurry of smoke and mirrors that took place.

On Wednesday, March 2, 2015 at 8:38 AM MT, regardless of all the spin around Pruvit and their “story”, Ron expressed his serious concerns to Mr. LaCore about the rhetoric, stories, and versions of stories.

Ron reminded that Mr. Lacore that the reason why he shared the technology was for a specific purpose as a funding mechanism for a potential joint venture/merger.

It was at this time that Mr. LaCore responded by offering ownership in Pruvit to Ron. Of course, on principle, Ron refused.

Could it be that the Pruvit lawsuit against ForeverGreen was done in fear; a frivolous stall tactic, so they could use it as a sales and marketing piece to yet again deceive more innocent people?

IT’S THESE KINDS OF TACTICS THAT MAKE OUR INDUSTRY SEEM NON-CREDIBLE TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD.

Included in the blog post are both ForeverGreen and Pruvit’s licensee agreements with Axcess Global Sciences.

Pruvit’s is dated December 31, 2014 and ForeverGreen’s July 7th, 2015.

Pruvits agreement was definitely signed earlier, however it appears to be missing a required signature from a member of the University of South Florida Research Foundation.

ForeverGreen content that without this signature, Pruvit’s licensee agreement wasn’t approved.

It is a legal fact that use of the university-owned patented technology must be approved by the university.

It is obvious that the university did not “approve it” (spelled correctly).

This university is extremely credible, and their processes are very detailed and specific. We know first-hand; we completed the process!

In response to Pruvit’s lawsuit, both Axcess Global Sciences and ForeverGreen have filed for a Temporary Restraining Order.

Patent infringement, false advertising violations, deceptive trade practices, tortious interference with contract and prospective business relations, business disparagement, breach of contract, breach of supply agreement, and civil conspiracy have also been filed as counter-claims.

In the past I have reached out to the other party in an effort to create a compromise.

The ForeverGreen hand is still, and always will be, outstretched.

Will we see a settlement agreement reached or is this going to play out until the bitter end?

Stay tuned…

Update 28th October 2015 – The ForeverGreen blog cited in this article has since had all posts published to it removed.

Ally King, ForeverGreen’s Director of Marketing and Communications, writes

You published an article from our blog that is still an incomplete draft. We have a final version being released tonight.

Our attorneys are happy to share with you an edited version, which is done.

I’ll include the “final version” as an update here once I receive it.

Update 28th October 2015 #2 – The Breaking Silence blog information has been republished with revised content.

I’ve replaced what was quoted above with the revised information, with the exception of comments referring to Jennifer Grace.

I thought those points were important enough to leave in, but acknowledge ForeverGreen’s revised publication has omitted them.

Update 1st November 2015 – Troy Dooly has responded to ForeverGreen’s website.