Gevo says its patent process predates work by Brazilian research team

In Colorado, Gevo responded to a claim by a researcher at the University of Campinas in Brazil that Butamax and Gevo “are fighting over a fermentation technology (integrated flash separation) which was firstly developed by our research group (University of Campinas – Brazil).”

The researcher, Adriano Marino, wrote that “Gevo filed its patent (US 8,101,808 B2) on Dec. 23 2008 and our paper was published 4 months before that date on August 23 2008.”

Gevo noted in response that with respect to the patent, the priority date for patenting the technology is December 2007, eight months before the article in question was published. The difference in dates between December 2007 and December 2008 related to provisional patent filing that began a year prior to the final patent application date in December 2008.