Styriagra producer goes bust
The company Firma Mandl Exclusiv owned by Styriagra producer Richard Mandl has entered bankruptcy proceedings, according to the Alpine Land Creditors Association (AKV).It reported yesterday that the firm in Krottendorf in Styrias Voitsberg district had debts of 395,000 Euros and that Voitsberg attorney Wolfgang Klobassa would be bankruptcy administrator.A recent ruling by Vienna Commercial Court that Mandl could not continue to market Styriagra in proceedings brought by Pfizer, the maker of male potency drug Viagra, may have been the fatal blow to Mandls firm.Mandl had been marketing light-blue, glazed pumpkin seeds under the name Styriagra, but Pfizer claimed he was trying to exploit Viagras name recognition.Mandl said the name Styriagra came from the words “Styria,” the name of an Austrian province, and “agra,” derived from the German word “agrar” or “agricultural” in English. He also said he had been marketing all of his pumpkin-based products in a light-blue colour.