Butamax files additional lawsuits against Gevo; seeks declaratory judgment of invalidity of Gevo patent and files suit to enforce Butamax’s ‘017 KARI patent

August 8, 2012 |

In Delaware, Butamax provided this latest update on the litigation activity between Butamax and Gevo related to biobutanol patents.

Last week, Butamax filed suit in the U.S. District Court of Delaware for a determination that Butamax does not infringe any valid claim of the Gevo patent 8,232,089. The ‘089 patent relates to the use of specific DHAD enzymes in the isobutanol production pathway. Gevo’s claims are not novel in view of discoveries previously disclosed years ago in various Butamax patent applications. Butamax’s engineered biosynthetic pathway includes improvements to various enzymes of the pathway providing significant advancement in the low-cost production of biobutanol.

In addition, Monday Butamax filed a new lawsuit against Gevo for infringement of Butamax patent 8,222,017 which protects a subset of improved KARI enzymes in the isobutanol production pathway.

In response to Gevo’s announcement of a preliminary injunction filing against Butamax, Butamax is unable to comment in detail because it has not yet seen Gevo’s motion. However, Butamax’s proprietary technology is not dependent on the subject matter of the Gevo 8,133,715 patent. Further, Butamax believes the claims of this patent are invalid.

Butamax’s patent portfolio was established very early in the program with patent applications filed as early as 2005. This robust portfolio covers inventions that address the full spectrum of biobutanol production including recombinant microorganisms that convert various feedstocks to biobutanol, process engineering for recovering biobutanol produced during fermentation, engineering design for optimized energy integration, and various renewable fuel and chemical compositions.

Gevo responds

“We don’t infringe the enzyme claimed in Butamax’s patent,” said Brett Lund, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Gevo. “Gevo previously developed and patented a modified E. coli KARI enzyme, and since then, our technology has advanced well beyond this. Our industry-leading process now utilizes an enzyme that is not derived from, or in any way related, to the E. coli KARI enzyme described in the newly issued patent. We provided proof of our non-infringement to Butamax and they still sued us.”

“We also challenge the validity of the just-issued Butamax patent. We strongly believe that Gevo was the first to invent the claimed subject matter,” Lund said. “Therefore, we have filed a ‘Request for Interference’ (Serial No. 13/271,084) with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to demonstrate that the technology is, in fact, a Gevo invention. Gevo’s technology represents the industry standard for the optimization of the native yeast isobutanol pathway. Our commitment to innovation is what sustains this leadership position. We see this unfounded lawsuit as another attempt by Butamax to stall our significant advances in the commercialization of renewable isobutanol.”

“This lawsuit is part and parcel of an ongoing effort by Butamax and its corporate parents, DuPont and British Petroleum, to divert attention from the well-established fact that much of Butamax’s technology is based on invalid patents and that Gevo is the real innovator in this field,” he said.

“The timing of Butamax’s new litigation is curious, to say the least, coming the day before our quarterly earnings call,” Lund said. “It also appears retaliatory, coming late on the same day we announced we were filing a motion for a preliminary injunction to halt their ongoing infringement of a Gevo patent.”

More on the story.

Category: Fuels

Thank you for visting the Digest.