Archive for September, 2015
Warning: Use of undefined constant archives - assumed 'archives' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in
/home/customer/www/greenpatentblog.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/cordobo-green-park-2/archive.php on line
32
Warning: Use of undefined constant page - assumed 'page' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in
/home/customer/www/greenpatentblog.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/cordobo-green-park-2/archive.php on line
32
Warning: A non-numeric value encountered in
/home/customer/www/greenpatentblog.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/cordobo-green-park-2/archive.php on line
32
class="post-8686 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-greenwashing">
September 29th, 2015

It was just a few months ago that a blog post reported a criminal defendant pleaded guilty to selling fraudulent renewable identification numbers (RINs).
It has happened again, with recent prison sentences for four individuals in Florida who also pleaded guilty to charges related to a scheme involving false production of biodiesel RINs.
According to this article in a Florida online newspaper, court documents had accused the defendants of profiting by unjustly generating and selling RINs and unjustly claiming biodiesel tax credits for the production and blending of fuel that was not actually biodiesel.
More particularly, as employees and officers of New Energy Fuels LLC, the defendants claimed to process animal fats and vegetable oils into biodiesel. Â However, what they actually did was perform minimal processing on low-grade feedstocks to produce a low-grade fuel that was not biodiesel.
They would represent to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that they had produced biodiesel, generate fraudulent biodiesel RINs, and sell the fake RINs to third parties. Â In total, the defendants sold over $15 million in fraudulent RINs.
The defendants also made false claims to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to get biodiesel tax credits.
As I’ve said before, I believe this type of fraudulent activity is greenwashing.  The fraud and resulting damage are recognizable when we view the putative RIN purchasers as green consumers, albeit commercial consumers instead of individuals, falling victim to false representations about the validity of renewable energy-based financial products.
The Acting Special Agent of the EPA in charge of the investigation (together with officials from the Dep’t of Justice and IRS echoed this sentiment, speaking to the purpose of RINs and the consequences of such fraudulent activity:
“The Renewable Fuel Standard helps reduce the climate impact of transportation fuel sold in this country. Â The criminal activity by these defendants has real consequences. Â The defendants manipulated and utilized federal governmental programs to line their pockets by fraud….Companies and managers need to understand there are serious consequences to skirting the rules and undermining the integrity of an EPA program.”
: Use of undefined constant archives - assumed 'archives' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in
: Use of undefined constant page - assumed 'page' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in
class="post-8665 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-green-patents category-ip-litigation category-led-patents category-smart-grid-patents">
Several new green patent complaints were filed in July and August in the areas of LEDs, smart grid, and water meters.
But before we get to that, a significant green patent case settled during this period.  Colorado-based Gevo and BP-DuPont joint venture Butamax announced that they entered into worldwide patent cross-license and settlement agreements.
The deal ends a massive patent dispute that began back in early 2011 and grew to comprise at least 17 lawsuits and 14 patents relating to methods of producing biobutanol.
The agreement grants both parties patent licenses to all fields for isobutanol and includes a combination of royalty-bearing and royalty-free fields for both parties.  According to this piece from Biofuels Digest, it seems the core of the deal is that Butamax will take the lead in the on-road gasoline market and Gevo gets the jet fuel market.
The litigation was notable both for its size and as the first foray of big oil into biofuels patent lawsuits.
LEDs
Feit Electric Company, Inc. v. Cree, Inc.
After Cree sued Feit for alleged infringement of 10 patents back in January, Feit fired back with this lawsuit filed July 7, 2015 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
The complaint accuses Cree of infringing two related U.S. Patent Nos. 8,408,748 and 9,016,901, both entitled “LED lamp replacement of low power incandescent lamp” (LED Lamp Patents).
The LED Lamp Patents are directed to LED light bulbs for replacing incandescents.  The LED lamp has an elevated light source positioned above a screw-type base and two groups of LEDs connected in series with each LED mounted proximate a heat sink.
The accused products are Cree’s 4Flow LED lamps.
Koninklijke Philips N.V. et al. v. Amerlux LLC et al.
Philips has filed another patent infringement lawsuit, asserting six LED lighting patents against New Jersey lighting company Amerlux.  The complaint was filed August 5, 2015 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
The patents-in-suit are:
U.S. Patent No. 6,094,014, entitled “Circuit arrangement, and signaling light provided with the circuit arrangementâ€
U.S. Patent No. 6,250,774, entitled “Luminaireâ€
U.S. Patent No. 6,577,512, entitled “Power supply for LEDsâ€
U.S. Patent No. 7,038,399, entitled “Methods and apparatus for providing power to lighting devicesâ€
U.S. Patent No. 7,262,559, entitled “LEDs driverâ€
U.S. Patent No. 8,220,958, entitled “Light-beam shaper”
Philips alleges that a host of Amerlux products infringe one or more of the asserted patents, including accent display lighting products, task lighting products, wall wash and grazer lighting products, shelf lighting products, downlights, pendants, outdoor lighting products, and other luminaire-type lighting products.
Smart Grid
Endeavor MeshTech, Inc. v. Redpine Signals, Inc.
Endeavor MeshTech, Inc. v. Atmel Corporation
Endeavor MeshTech (a wholly-owned subsidiary of patent monetization firm Endeavor IP) continued its patent enforcement campaign, filing two more lawsuits in July and August.
The first was filed against Redpine in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on July 1, 2015 (Endeavor Meshtech v. Redpine), the second against Atmel in U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on July 6, 2015 (Endeavor Meshtech v. ATMEL).
The two complaints accuse Redpine and Atmel, respectively, of infringing three patents in a family – U.S. Patent Nos. 7,379,981 (‘981 Patent),  8,700,749 (‘749 Patent), and 8,855,019 (‘019 Patent), each entitled “Wireless communication enabled meter and network.â€
The patents-in-suit relate to a self-configuring wireless network including a number of vnodes and VGATES.
The accused products are Redpine’s n-Link, Connect-io-n, WiSeConnect, M2MCombo, SmartCombo, NetCombo and WinergyNet products and Atmel’s products sold under the brand names ZigBit, SmartConnect, BitCloud, and SMART.
Regen Energy Inc. v. eCurv Inc.Â
On August 19, 2015 Regen Energy, a Canadian corporation with operations in San Marcos, California, sued Massachusetts-based eCurv for alleged infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 8,918,223 (‘223 Patent) and 9,110,647 (‘647 Patent).
The ‘223 and ‘647 Patents are related patents entitled, respectively “Apparatus for managing an energy consuming load” and “Method and apparatus for managing an energy consuming load.”  They are directed to energy management systems and methods that generate load state data from energy consuming loads, make enablement state decisions for the loads using the load state data, and implement the enablement state decisions.
Filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, the complaint alleges that eCurv’s QPAC line of energy management software and related products infringe the ‘223 and ‘647 Patents.
Water Meters
Green4All Energy Solutions, Inc. v. Flow Dynamics, LLC et al.
In this action for tortious interference, unfair competition and declaratory judgment, Chicago-based Green4All requests that the court declare Flow Dynamics’ U.S. Patent No. 8,707,981 (‘981 Patent) invalid.
The ‘981 Patent is entitled “System for increasing the efficiency of a water meter” and directed to a valve assembly that increases the efficiency of an upstream water meter by removing entrained water bubbles from the water supply.
Filed August 5, 2015 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the complaint alleges that Flow Dynamics’ prior filed patent infringement suit against Green4All (reported here) is without merit and the ‘981 Patent should be declared not infringed and invalid.