Gevo receives 11th patent, files lawsuit against Butamax, Dupont for infringement

In Colorado, Gevo was awarded its 11th patent by the USPTO, #8,232,089 which futher enhances biobutanol production in yeast.  Brett Lund, Excecutive VP and General Counsel stated the patent as another in a series that makes changes in the yeast pathway by eliminating byproducts and improving efficiency, that altogether “… enable a process efficiency exceeding 90%, compared with less than 1% in the naturally occurring pathway in yeast.”  This was followed by Gevo filing lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District in Marshall, Texas charging infringement of the new patent by E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company and Butamax.

“The Gevo ‘089 patent adds no new point of novelty over previous Butamax discoveries. As such, Butamax is the rightful owner and innovator of this technology,” said Paul Beckwith, Butamax CEO. “We look forward to putting forth detailed evidence both to the court in response to this lawsuit and with the USPTO through its reexamination process.” The USPTO recently granted Butamax’s request for reexamination of Gevo patent number 8,101,808.

More on the story.