ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Aug. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Gevo, Inc.
(NASDAQ: GEVO) filed a lawsuit for declaratory judgment against
Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels, LLC (Butamax), E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD), BP
p.l.c. (NYSE: BP), BP Corporation North America Inc. and BP
Biofuels North America LLC, seeking a judicial determination that a
recently issued Butamax U.S. Patent No. 8,241,878 ('878 Patent) is
invalid and that Gevo does not infringe on it.
"We believe Butamax's patent is invalid and will be filing a
Request for Reexamination with the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office," said Brett Lund, Executive
Vice President and General Counsel of Gevo. "We can make this claim
for many reasons, including the fact that we already have an issued
patent covering this technology and we invented it before Butamax
filed its patent application. Butamax's '878 Patent covers only two
Dihydroxy-Acid Dehydratase (DHAD) enzymes, unlike Gevo's patented
technology in U.S Patent No. 8,232,089 ('089 Patent) that covers
dozens of DHADs, including the two DHADs claimed in Butamax's '878
Patent."
On July 31, Gevo filed a lawsuit
in the U.S. District Court of Eastern District Texas charging
infringement of Gevo's DHAD technology in its '089 Patent by
DuPont, BP, and Butamax. In a lawsuit filed today, Butamax alleged
that Gevo infringes its '878 Patent. In Gevo's opinion, Butamax's
lawsuit appears retaliatory as Gevo has already sued Butamax and
its parent companies for infringing Gevo's DHAD technology in July
and today Gevo sued them again for a declaratory judgment.
"Gevo has advanced well beyond the R&D stage. We are now
operating commercially," Lund said. "We believe this action is an
attempt by Butamax and its corporate parents to impede our
progress. They are trying to use the courts to compensate for
their lack of progress."
"We're commercial and at least two years ahead of Butamax's
R&D efforts," added Lund. "We are producing isobutanol at
commercial scale. They are, by their own admission, years away from
commercialization. We believe the only way they are going to become
commercially viable is to utilize our patented technology."
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, as amended, and in subsequent
reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings made with the SEC
by Gevo.
SOURCE Gevo, Inc.