Gevo asks USPTO to re-examine Butamax patent

Gevo, Inc., a major renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company, asked the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to reexamine and invalidate the the Butamax(TM) Advanced Biofuels LLC (Butamax) patent 7,851,188 issued in December 2010. Butamax, a joint venture between BP and DuPont filed a lawsuit claiming that Gevo was infringing on their patent which covers the proprietary process for producing isobutanol. “The technologies and process steps combined in the claims of the ‘188 Patent and ‘889 patent were known in the field, published in numerous scientific journals, or invented by others, including Gevo, before Butamax applied for their patents,” said Brett Lund, executive vice president for Gevo. “Consequently, we believe both Butamax patents are invalid. Furthermore, Gevo does not use the technology claimed in these patents. We use our own distinct technology, GIFT, Gevo Integrated Fermentation Technology, which is covered by more than 150 patent applications and enables the efficient production of isobutanol,” he said. (August 18, 2011)