GreenShift asserts biofuel patent against GEA Westfalia

The day after its patent issued, GreenShift Corporation‘s wholly-owned subsidiary GS CleanTech Corporation asserted US Patent No. 7,601,858, against GEA Westfalia Separator, Inc. and other defendants in S.D.N.Y.  The first amended complaint asserts only one cause of action for patent infringement.

Titled “Method of Processing Ethanol Byproducts and Related Subsystems,” the ‘858 patent is drawn to a method for obtaining corn oil by evaporating, concentrating and mechanically processing thin stillage.

GreenShift press release here.

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Oct. 21, 2009 update:  Second related patent awarded to GreenShift.  Story here.

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS199907+20-Oct-2009+BW20091020

Strategic value of solar patents increasing slowly but surely: SunPower secures license from SunLink

Associated Press reported that SunPower and SunLink have settled a patent suit with SunPower extracting a license from SunLink.  The complaint was originally filed in Oregon and transferred to Northern California where it was pending before Judge Saundra Armstrong, who wrote the Kivalina Order on greenhouse gas public nuisance suits that I recently posted about.  (I also appeared before Judge Armstrong recently in a contracts case involving  “greenwashing” claims and was very impressed.)

The SunPower complaint asserts two patents, US Patent No. 5505788 (“Thermally Regulated Photovoltaic Roofing Assembly”) and No. RE38,988 (“Lightweight, Self-Balancing Photovoltaic Assembly”).

‘788 Patent Claim 1:

1. A photovoltaic roofing assembly, comprising:

a roofing membrane;

a plurality of photovoltaic modules disposed as a layer on top of said roofing membrane, and

means for regulating the temperature of said photovoltaic modules.

‘988 Patent Claim 1:

1. A photovoltaic assembly comprising:

a building rooftop;

a photovoltaic module having sides and having upper and lower surfaces; and

a spacer secured to the lower surface of the photovoltaic module and supported by the building rooftop;

said spacer sized and configured to define:

an open region beneath said lower surface, said open region extending between and in contact with the lower surface and in direct contact with the building rooftop, and

including access openings formed therein for fluidly coupling said open region to said upper surface;

said access openings extending along at least two sides of said photovoltaic module;

whereby wind uplift forces are resisted when said photovoltaic assembly is mounted to the building rooftop .

Australian patent attorney Justin Blows makes a sharp prediction that strategic use of patents will likely increase as the industry matures.

A123 reportedly working to settle lithium battery patent dispute on eve of highly successful IPO

Maker of lithium batteries for plug-in vehicles A123 Systems raised an incredible $400 MM in its IPO yesterday.  A123 is currently defending a patent infringement suit brought by the University of Texas and Canada’s largest utility, Hydro-Quebec.  According to the co-plaintiffs’ complaint, Hydro-Quebec is the university’s exclusive licensee of two lithium battery patents developed by university professor Dr. John Goodenough and his team.  The complaint also names defendants China BAK Battery, Inc. and Black & Decker, the former allegedly manufacturing A123 batteries used in the latter’s devices.   Massachusetts-based A123 filed a complaint in Boston against Hydro-Quebec seeking declaratory judgment of invalidity and non-infringement.  The Texas action was stayed and the Boston action dismissed pending reexam, with motions to restart proceedings subsequently filed in both cases.

Bloomberg reports that A123 has been in talks to settle the disputes, according to an unopposed calendaring motion filed by A123 in the Texas action on Sept. 15, about two weeks before the IPO.

The suits involve U.S. Patent No. 5, 910,383 (“Production Process of Carbonaceious Material and Battery”) and No. 6,514,640 (“Cathode Materials for Secondary (Rechargeable) Lithium Batteries”).

‘383 patent claim 1:

1. A process for the production of a carbonaceous material comprising the following steps:
subjecting a vacuum distillation residual pitch to heat treatment at a temperature of up to 420.degree. C. until the content of quinoline-insoluble components thereof becomes 50 to 80 wt. %, whereby said pitch is converted into a mesophase pitch;
grinding the thus-obtained mesophase pitch into fine particles having an aspect ratio not greater than 2;
subjecting the thus-ground product to oxidation treatment; and
subjecting the thus-oxidized product to carbonization or graphitization treatment.

‘640 patent claim 1:

1. A cathode material for a rechargeable electrochemical cell, said cell also comprising an anode and an electrolyte, the cathode material comprising a compound of the ordered or modified olivine structure having the formula:

LixM1(dtqr)DdTtQqRr(XO4)

wherein: N is a cation of a metal selected from the group consisting of Fe, Mn, Co, Ti, Ni or mixtures thereof; D is a metal having a +2 oxidation state selected from the group consisting of Mg.sup.2+, Ni.sup.2+, Co.sup.2+, Zn.sup.2+, Cu.sup.2+, and Ti.sup.2+ ; T is a metal having a +3 oxidation state selected from the group consisting of Al.sup.3+t, Ti.sup.3+, Cr.sup.3+, Fe.sup.3+, Mn.sup.3+, Ga.sup.3+, Zn.sup.3+, and V.sup.3+ ; Q is a metal having a +4 oxidation state selected from the group consisting of Ti.sup.4+ ; Ge.sup.4+ ; Sn.sup.4+, and V.sup.4+ ; R is a metal having a +5 oxidation state selected from the group consisting of V.sup.5+ ; Nb.sup.5+, and Ta.sup.5+ ; X comprises Si, S, P, V or mixtures thereof; 0.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.1; and 0.ltoreq.d, t, q, r.ltoreq.1, where at least one of d, t, q, and r is not 0.