Hi Radiance,

That probably because Blender dont import the .obj properly. (a bit like Octane :P)
Looks like the best way to get the vertex normal right in Blender is using the .lwo with some custom blender script.

http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=979.1

But that doesn't mean .obj can't handle it, as it works with modo,c4d,maya ...

... I don't have a clue about blender stuffs.