Opinion ID: 6189
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Commencement of the Relationship

Text: 4 Chaffe first contacted Clorox in January of 1989 about a potential venture with Omnitech. At that time, Clorox did not manufacture, sell, or distribute any insecticides, but had been researching and evaluating the insecticide industry since around 1987. According to Clorox, however, it had first become enamored with the insecticide industry in view of the enormous success of the Combat roach bait stations, first introduced by American Cyanamid in the early 1980s. Clorox' evaluation of the opportunities in this industry included investigation of, and negotiations with, Consep Membrane, Inc. (Consep) and the Seabright Company (Seabright). In 1987, Clorox retained Consep to conduct technical biorational 2 research on cockroaches, ants, and flies for the purpose of developing a non-toxic consumer insecticide product that would be as effective as the Combat bait traps. Clorox also began evaluating a bait trap manufactured by Seabright in late 1988. In addition, Clorox investigated a bait technology developed by Dr. Phil Koehler (Koehler) at the University of Florida. Finally, Clorox conducted its own in-house research on the insecticide category. These relationships and investigations apparently gave Clorox a variety of informational materials relating to the pest-management industry or category.