Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Gevo, Butamax Trade Patent Suits

Englewood, Colorado-based Gevo and Butamax Advanced Biofuels, two developers of biofuels processing technology, are sparring again in the courts, via a pair of two opposing patent infringement lawsuits. According to court filings and announcements from the two firms, Gevo has filed a lawsuit against Butamax over a newly granted patent, U.S. Patent No. 8,133,715, for part of its isobutanol production process; Butamax, for its part, has filed another, patent infrigement lawsuit against Gevo claiming patent infringement on U.S. Patent 8,129,162, covering enzymes used in biofuels production. Gevo and Butamax have been having it out in the courts since January of 2011, when Butamax first sued Gevo. Butamax is a joint venture of BP Plc and DuPont.