USPTO awards new Gevo patent in isobutanol

December 9, 2011 |

In Colorado, Gevo received yet another patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office on another aspect of its yeast technology that Gevo reports will enable low-cost, high-yield production of biobased isobutanol.  Gevo was awarded U.S. Patent No. 8,071,358, covering additional “Methods of Increasing Dihydroxy Acid Dehydratase (DHAD) Activity to Improve Production of Fuels, Chemicals, and Amino Acids.”

More on the race for bio-siobutanol world domination

In late November Gevo announced the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is reconsidering a patent issued in August to Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC for a fuel additive. Gevo claims that, “substantial questions exist regarding whether others invented this technology first and that several scientific journal publications had described the technology before Butamax applied for the patent.”s

In a non-final action, the PTO said the patent claims were invalid. Butamax, a joint venture between BP Plc and Dupont Co., will have a chance to respond to the agency’s findings, and by law the patent remains valid and enforceable during the review process.

Butamax responded: “We are pleased that the U.S. Patent Office found Gevo’s attempts to invalidate our first patent to be without merit and we are confident that our second patent, which is a continuation of the first, will ultimately receive the same revalidation,” said Paul Beckwith, Butamax CEO. “With our foundational isobutanol production patent reaffirmed and with key claims of our second patent unchallenged, we will continue our efforts to bring Gevo’s unlawful infringement to an end.”

Peter Matrai, Butamax COO added, “According to USPTO statistics, 95% of reexamine requests are granted.  The denial of reexamination for the ‘188 patent demonstrates the strength of the patent and Butamax’s clear position as the true innovator of biobutanol production technology.”

Butamax filed suit against Gevo, Inc for infringement of the‘188 and ‘889 patents which the U.S. Patent office issued in December 2010 and August 2011, respectively.  Both the ‘188 and ‘889 patents remain in full force and effect.  These patents protect pioneering biobutanol production technology. Butamax is seeking to enjoin Gevo Inc.

Category: Fuels

Thank you for visting the Digest.