There have been a number of green patent complaints filed in the last several weeks in the areas of biofuels, LEDs, and smart grid.

Biofuels

GS Cleantech Corporation v. Aemetis, Inc. et al.

GS Cleantech Corporation v. Homeland Energy Solutions, LLC

GS Cleantech Corporation v. Little Sioux Corn Processors, LLP

GS Cleantech Corporation v. Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy, LLC

GS recently fired off several new lawsuits involving its patented ethanol production processes.  A complaint filed August 14, 2013 in federal court in Fresno, California accused Aemetis Advanced Fuels of infringing U.S. Patent No. 7,601,858, entitled “Method of processing ethanol byproducts and related subsystems” (‘858 Patent).

The other lawsuits, against Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy (Southwest Iowa Complaint), Little Sioux Corn Processors (Little Sioux Complaint), and Homeland Energy Solutions (Homeland Energy Complaint), were filed in July and August in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. 

The asserted patents in these complaints are the ‘858 Patent, U.S. Patent Nos. 8,008,516 and 8,283,484, each entitled “Method of processing ethanol byproducts and related subsystems,” as well as U.S. Patent No. 8,008,517, entitled “Method of recovering oil from thin stillage.” 

GS also asserted U.S. Patent No. 8,168,037, entitled “Method and systems for enhancing oil recovery from ethanol production byproducts,” against Homeland Energy Solutions. 

The patents relate to methods of recovering oil from byproducts of ethanol production using the process of dry milling, which creates a waste stream comprised of byproducts called whole stillage.

GS has been on an aggressive patent enforcement campaign over the last several years.  Multiple actions were consolidated in the Southern District of Indiana, where the asserted patents were construed and re-construed.

LEDs

Trustees of Boston University v. Hewlett-Packard Co.

Trustees of Boston University v. Vyrian, Inc.

Trustees of Boston University v. Sierra IC, Inc.

In August Boston University initiated some new lawsuits in federal court in Boston, continuing its patent enforcement campaign against various LED makers and electronics manufacturers.  The complaints again assert U.S. Patent No. 5,686,738 (’738 Patent) (HP Complaint; Vyrian Complaint; Sierra Complaint) . 

The ’738 Patent is entitled “Highly insulated monocrystalline gallium nitride thin films” and directed to gallium nitride semiconductor devices and methods of preparing highly insulating GaN single crystal films in a molecular beam epitaxial growth chamber.

The accused products are various LED devices and products.

Koninklijke Philips N.V. v. Altair Engineering, Inc. et al.

Philips sued Altair in federal court in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin requesting a declaratory judgment that U.S. Patent No. 7,049,761 (’761 Patent) is invalid and unenforceable and that Philips’ LED-based replacement tube products do not infringe the patent. 

The ‘761 Patent is entitled “Light tube and power supply circuit” and directed to a light tube for a fluorescent light fixure having a plurality of light emitting diodes within the bulb.  According to the complaint, Altair has been trying to get Philips to take a license to the ‘761 Patent. 

The complaint also charges Altair with a Lanham Act violation for making false or misleading representations that the ‘761 is a “foundational” patent and only companies that have licensed the patent can make LED-based replacement tubes for fluorescent lighting fixtures.

 

Smart Grid

Emerson Electric Co. et al. v. Sipco LLC et al.

In what could prove to be an important case, Emerson is taking on a major clean tech non-practicing entity in Sipco LLC (and the closely related if not identical IPCo), an Atlanta patent licensing and assertion company that holds a number of patents, many relating to remote monitoring and control systems.

Filed in federal court in Atlanta on July 31, 2013, the complaint requests a declaratory judgment of invalidity and non-infringement of at least one claim of each of eight Sipco and IPCo patents.

The listed patents are U.S. Patent Nos. 6,437,692, 6,914,893, 7,103,511, 7,697,492, 8,013,732, 6,044,062, 6,249,516 and 8,000,314, which relate to remote monitoring and control systems.

According to the complaint, Emerson subsidiary Rosemount received a subpoena from Sipco requesting information on products including various wireless communication protocol-enable devices such as Zigbee, WirelessHART, ISA-100, Z-Wave, EnOcean and JenNet.

Sipco has sued utilities and various smart grid players that make smart meters, EV charging stations, building automation systems, and other energy management solutions (see, e.g., previous posts here, here, and here).

 

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