ICM's Assertion: "Most important the claim construction analysis that Plaintiffs have dodged, both publicly and before this Court, will require Plaintiffs to explain to this Court how the methods for corn oil recovery claimed in the ‘858 patent can be as broad as Plaintiffs’ rhetoric asserts when the exact same method is completely and identically disclosed in one prior art reference, namely, Prevost."
Court's Answer: "Therefore, to distinguish itself from Prevost, Plaintiff clearly disclaimed that the heating that occurs as part of the oil recovery step occurred at any time prior to or as a part of the evaporation or concentrating step."
ICM's Assertion: "Most important, construction of the ‘858 patent will expose Plaintiffs’ failure to explain how the ‘858 patent claims differentiate from the clear teaching of Prevost U.S. Patent Application Publication No.US2004/0087808 (“Prevost”) to obtain oil from concentrated thin stillage by centrifugation."
Court's Answer: "Indeed, Applicants do distinguish their claimed methods from Prevost, but they do so explicitly on the grounds that their claimed method teaches a post-evaporation process for recovering oil from the concentrate using heat and mechanical processing."
"Defendants also cite Applicants’ statements regarding evaporation freeing some of the bound oil and how Minowa in combination with Prevost fail to teach or suggest “recovering the oil from the concentrated byproduct by heating and mechanically processing the concentrated byproduct to separate the oil from the concentrated byproduct.” Neither of these statements reference the recovery of oil free from water and solids. Indeed, Defendants state that they “presume” that is what Applicants were referencing. However nothing in the context of the prosecution history indicates that Defendants’ presumption is correct. Defendants’ assumptions regarding the grounds on which Applicants distinguished from Prevost are completely without support in the record of the prosecution history."
The Defendants contend that the statement “as claimed” in the underlined portion of the second explanation is a clear disavowal of claim scope as to all claims of the ‘858 patent and requires the concentrate or syrup after the oil recovery step to be substantially free of oil. The Court disagrees. ************************************
For these reasons, the Court concludes that only claim 7 of the ‘516 patent and claim 8 of the ‘484 patent require that the post-oil recovery step syrup stream be “substantially oil free.” ************************************
With respect to the absolute percentages advocated by the Defendants’, the Court concludes that the argument improperly seeks to import limitations from the specification into the claims. First, the Defendants cannot point to any language in the claims, the specification or the prosecution history that limit the substantially oil free limitation to the quantities listed in Figure 2 of the ‘858 patent family. There simply is none. The claims, as recited above, are completely devoid of any reference to numerical quantities.
GreenShift Corporation (GERS) today announced the issuance of a significant ruling in its ongoing prosecution of ethanol producers and other entities for infringement of GreenShift’s patented corn oil extraction processes, including U.S. Patent Nos. 7,601,858, 8,008,516, 8,008,517, and 8,283,484.
GreenShift believes that the ruling dramatically strengthens its case for infringement against any person or entity recovering or facilitating the recovery of corn oil from the concentrated thin stillage by-product of ethanol producers.
All of the following defendants in GreenShift’s current litigation argued that GreenShift’s patents are limited to the recovery of at least 95% of the oil present in the concentrated thin stillage feed stream, and that they are consequently not infringing on GreenShift’s patents because they are recovering less than 95% of the oil present in their concentrated thin stillage feed streams: (1) Ace Ethanol; (2) Al-Corn Clean Fuel; (3) Blue Flint Ethanol; (4) Bushmills Ethanol; (5) Chippewa Valley Ethanol; (6) Heartland Corn Products; (7) Lincolnway Energy; (8) United Wisconsin Grain Producers; (9) Iroquois Bio-Energy Company; (10) Cardinal Ethanol; (11) ICM; (12) Big River Resources West Burlington; (13) Adkins Energy; (14) Big River Resources Galva; (15) Lincolnland Agri-Energy and (16) David Vander Griend.
The Court disagreed with the defendants’ arguments, and issued a Supplemental Claim Construction Order clarifying that the patents do not require recovery of any particular percentage of oil present in the syrup feed stream.
Significantly, the Court ruled that most of GreenShift’s patent claims cover mechanical processing to recover a product that is largely or mostly oil, and that they are not limited by the amount of oil that is not recovered from the concentrated thin stillage stream. “We are very pleased with the Court’s ruling,” said David Winsness, GreenShift’s Chief Technology Officer and co-inventor of its patented corn oil extraction technologies. “We have looked at the so-called advanced oil, oil plus, COSS and such other attempts to work around our patents. We are highly confident, and even more so with this latest ruling, that all such attempts plainly infringe our patents.” Winsness continued: “Ethanol managers, board members, owners, lenders and other stakeholders that have adopted ‘wait-and-see’ infringement strategies are encouraged to pay careful attention to these events. Licensed producers receive a significant competitive advantage that we have pledged to vigorously defend. We will continue to do so and now look forward to expanding our efforts in the coming months.”
"PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that Plaintiff, GS CleanTech Corporation, by its undersigned counsel, and Defendant, Center Ethanol Company, LLC, by its undersigned counsel, pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(ii) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, hereby dismiss with prejudice all claims asserted by and between GS CleanTech Corporation and Center Ethanol Company, LLC, with each party bearing its own costs and attorney's fees. "
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GreenShift Corporation announced today that GreenShift and its wholly-owned subsidiary, GS CleanTech Corporation, have settled its patent infringement lawsuit with Center Ethanol, LLC and entered into a license agreement for use of GreenShift's patented corn oil extraction process.
“We have been working with GreenShift for a very short time, but thus far we are impressed with their professionalism and knowledge of their corn oil extraction process” . “We are pleased to have the opportunity to partner with Center Ethanol as we work together to maximize the benefits corn oil extraction," said David Winsness, Chief Technology Officer of GreenShift.
“We have been working with GreenShift for a very short time, but thus far we are impressed with their professionalism and knowledge of their corn oil extraction process,” added Barry Frazier, President of Center Ethanol.
GreenShift’s technical services staff are available at 888-ETHANOIL or sales@greenshift.com to respond to quotation requests and to answer any questions about GreenShift’s patented corn oil extraction and other technologies
A court ruling has been announced in favor of GreenShift on its ongoing patent battle against several ethanol producers and other entities for infringement of GreenShift’s corn oil extraction processes. Defendants in the litigation argued that GreenShift’s patents are limited to the recovery of at least 95% of the oil present in the concentrated thin stillage feed stream and that there are no infringement occurring because they are recovering less than 95% of the oil. A court ruling has issued a Supplemental Claim Construction Order clarifying the patents do not require recovery of any particular percentage of oil present in the stream.
Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:GPRE – News) announced today that it will implement corn oil extraction technology at its ethanol plants. The Company expects to complete the technology deployment by the end of the first quarter of 2011 and anticipates the project would enhance operating income by $15 million to $19 million per year.
“Our objective is to continue to diversify our cash flows and to de-risk our overall platform,” said Todd Becker, President and Chief Executive Officer of Green Plains Renewable Energy. “This project allows us to realize additional income streams from value-added co-products. The production of 75 million to 90 million pounds of corn oil per year will generate substantial recurring free cash flows and excellent returns on invested capital.”
ICM, Inc. has been awarded turn-key installation contracts at five of the Company’s six plants. The expected total project cost for all plants is approximately $18 million. The Company anticipates first revenues from corn oil extraction at the Obion, Tennessee plant to occur within the next 90 days.
Green Plains has entered into a license agreement with GS CleanTech Corporation, a subsidiary of GreenShift Corporation, to utilize its patents and pending patents.
We began implementing corn oil extraction technology at our six legacy ethanol plants. As of August 31st, 2011, we were operating corn oil extraction systems at all 9 of our plants. The corn oil systems we are installing are designed to extract non-edible corn oil from the thin stillage evaporation process immediately prior to production of distillers grains. The corn oil product is primarily marketed as a feedstock for biodiesel as well as a supplement to livestock feed.
Other industrial uses for corn oil include feedstock for rubber substitutes, rust preventatives, inks, textiles, soaps and insecticides. Our corn oil is primarily sold to biodiesel manufactures and, to a lesser extent, feed lot and poultry markets. We generally transport our corn oil by truck to locations in close proximity to our ethanol plants, primarily in the southeastern and midwestern regions of the U.S. With our continuous yield improvements we expect to produce over 150 million pounds of corn oil across our platform in 2012
At capacity, our nine ethanol plants produce a total of approximately 740 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol annually.
GreenShift Licenses Its Patent's to Sunoco
GreenShift Licenses Its Patented Corn Oil Extraction Process to Sunoco
Technology Produces Feedstock for Biodiesel, Second Renewable Fuel from Sunoco’s Green E15 Manufacturing Facility in Fulton, New York NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- GreenShift Corporation (GERS) announced today that it has licensed its patented technology to Sunoco for extraction of corn oil from a co-product of Sunoco’s corn ethanol manufacturing facility in Fulton, New York. The recovered corn oil is a valuable raw material for use in the manufacturing of biodiesel and other carbon-neutral products.
Designated an ‘advanced technology’ by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, GreenShift’s patented corn oil extraction is proven to improve the profitability, energy efficiency and carbon footprint of ethanol plants. GreenShift’s extraction process gives Sunoco the exciting ability to contribute to the production of a second renewable fuel (biodiesel) from every kernel of corn that is refined into ethanol. One kernel of corn can now produce two renewable fuels using GreenShift’s proprietary process.
Sunoco additionally awarded GreenShift the construction project to design and install the equipment.
“We selected GreenShift to be our technology provider after extensive review,” added Gary Center, Fulton ethanol facility manager at Sunoco. “The ability to extract corn oil to sell to third parties will provide a positive economic impact at the plant.”
“GreenShift is very pleased to be working with Sunoco; throughout the entire process Sunoco demanded the very best, and we are pleased that we were able to deliver,” added Edward Carroll, GreenShift’s President.
About Sunoco, Inc.
Sunoco is a leading transportation fuel provider with operations located primarily in the East Coast and Midwest regions of the United States. The company sells transportation fuels through more than 4,900 branded retail locations in 23 states. APlus convenience stores are operated by the company or independent dealers in more than 600 retail locations. The retail network in the Northeast is principally supplied by Sunoco-owned refineries with a combined crude oil processing capacity of 505,000 barrels per day. Sunoco is also the General Partner and has a 31-percent interest in Sunoco Logistics Partners, L.P., a publicly traded master limited partnership which owns and operates 7,600 miles of refined product and crude oil pipelines and approximately 40 active product terminals. Through SunCoke Energy, Sunoco makes high-quality metallurgical-grade coke for major steel manufacturers. The company's facilities in the U.S. have the capacity to manufacture approximately 3.7 million tons of metallurgical-grade coke annually. Sunoco also is the operator of, and has an equity interest in, a 1.7 million tons-per-year coke-making facility in Vitória, Brazil.
About GreenShift Corporation
GreenShift Corporation (GERS) develops and commercializes clean technologies that facilitate the more efficient use of natural resources. GreenShift is focused on doing so today in the U.S. ethanol industry, where GreenShift innovates and offers technologies that improve the profitability of licensed ethanol producers. Additional information on GreenShift and its technologies is available online at www.greenshift.com.
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