Gevo Wins in Court – Butamax Denied Preliminary Injunction; Gevo Free to Sell to Anyone, Anywhere
20 Juni 2012 - 1:30PM
Business Wire
Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO), a leading renewable chemicals and
next-generation biofuels company, announced today that the U.S.
District Court of Delaware denied the Motion for Preliminary
Injunction sought by Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels, LLC (Butamax)
against Gevo. This decision replaces the previous court order, and
means that Gevo is once again free to sell in any market, to any
customer, in any region.
“We are pleased that the first judicial decision in this dispute
landed decisively in favor of Gevo,” said Brett Lund, EVP and
General Counsel for Gevo. “For the last year, we have publicly
stated that we believe that Patent No. 7,993,889 (‘889 Patent) is
invalid and that we do not infringe. This ruling provides judicial
support for both positions.”
In the Honorable Judge Sue L. Robinson’s judicial opinion, she
stated, “that plaintiff (Butamax) does not hold a valid patent, nor
would the defendant (Gevo) infringe if it did.”
On Sept. 22, 2011, Butamax petitioned the Court for a
preliminary injunction against Gevo and accused Gevo of infringing
the ‘889 Patent. Gevo opposed Butamax’s motion, explaining that the
asserted claims of the ‘889 Patent are neither valid nor infringed.
The Court has now ruled in favor of Gevo and denied Butamax’s
request for a preliminary injunction.
“Gevo has consistently maintained that it does not infringe
Butamax’s ‘889, ‘188 (Patent No. 7,851,188) and ‘328 (Patent No.
8,178,328) patents, because the Gevo-created NKR enzyme used in our
engineered yeast strains uses NADH, and not NADPH, as an electron
donor,” said Lund. “NADH enables Gevo’s yeast strains to produce
isobutanol at much greater efficiencies than strains using
NADPH.”
In rejecting Butamax’s allegations of infringement, the Court
held that the KARI enzymes of Butamax’s ‘889 Patent are “explicitly
defined as being exclusively NADPH-dependent.” “This is important,
because the same definitions are provided within Butamax’s ‘188 and
‘328 patents that have also been asserted against Gevo,” said
Lund.
In addition to achieving this significant victory before the
Court in Delaware, Gevo continues to make strides within the United
States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). Consistent with the
Court’s findings, the USPTO has rejected all of the Butamax claims
that Gevo has challenged, finding those claims rejected as
unpatentable in view of a substantial collection of prior art as
indicated in reexamination case files (Serial No. 95/001,735 for
the ‘889 Patent and Serial No. 95/001,857 for the ‘188 Patent).
“We are up against two of the biggest companies in our industry
(BP and DuPont) and believe that Butamax’s failed motion and
ongoing infringement claims are without merit and are merely
attempts to derail Gevo’s progress,” said Lund. “But we have
prevailed. We’ve commenced the startup of our Luverne Plant, proved
to the USPTO that Butamax’s ‘889 and ‘188 patents are unpatentable
and won the preliminary injunction hearing convincingly. We are
ready to move on with the commercialization of renewable isobutanol
for the benefit of our customers in the chemical and fuels
industries.
To participate in the INVESTOR conference call at 9 a.m. EDT, please
dial 1-866-713-8310 or 1-617-597-5308 and reference the access
code: 93901031.The call will be available via a live webcast at:
http://www.media-server.com/m/p/hacjfkr5. A replay of the
Investor conference call will be availablefrom June 20 to June 27
by dialing 888-286-8010 or 617-801-6888 and reference the access
code: 67408138.
To participate in the MEDIA conference
call at 10 a.m. EDT, please dial 1-866-770-7051 or 1-617-213-8064
and reference the access code 55935249.The call will be available
via a live webcast at:
http://www.media-server.com/m/p/94s72kdk. A replay of
the Media conference call will beavailable from June 20 to June 27
by dialing 888-286-8010 or 617-801-6888 and reference the access
code: 87974369.
About Gevo
Gevo is converting existing ethanol plants into biorefineries to
make renewable building block products for the chemical and fuel
industries. The Company plans to convert renewable raw materials
into isobutanol and renewable hydrocarbons that can be directly
integrated on a “drop in” basis into existing chemical and fuel
products to deliver environmental and economic benefits. Gevo is
committed to a sustainable biobased economy that meets society’s
needs for plentiful food and clean air and water. For more
information, visit www.gevo.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may constitute
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements include statements that are not purely statements of
historical fact, and can sometimes be identified by our use of
terms such as “intend,” “expect,” “plan,” “estimate,” “future,”
“strive” and similar words. These forward-looking statements are
made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and
assumptions of the management of Gevo and are subject to
significant risks and uncertainty. Investors are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. All
such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are
made, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise
these statements, whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise. Although the company believes that the
expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are
reasonable, these statements involve many risks and uncertainties
that may cause actual results to differ materially from what may be
expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. For a
further discussion of risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ from those expressed in these
forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the
business of Gevo in general, see the risk disclosures in the Annual
Report on Form 10-K of Gevo for the year ended December 31, 2011,
and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings
made with the SEC by Gevo.
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