Court rules against GreenShift in corn oil separation case
October 28, 2014
BY Holly Jessen
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana has issued a sealed order which holds all asserted corn oil separation patents held by GS CleanTech Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of GreenShift Corp., as invalid and not infringed on, according to a Oct. 24 news release from ICM Inc.
The patents include numbers 7,601,858; 8,008,516; 8,008,517; 8,283,484 and 8,168,037. "The district court’s order resolves all pending motions for summary judgment in the multi-district litigation," said Brian Burris, vice president and general counsel of ICM Inc. "This is a paramount ruling in the patent litigation and will be beneficial for the entire ethanol industry that ICM continues to support." In addition, the district court ordered both parties, GS CleanTech and ICM, to show cause by Nov. 6 or the court will unseal the entire document for public access.
GreenShift responded with an Oct. 27 press release that said it strongly disagreed with the ruling and that the company intended to appeal. “It is important to note that all patents remain valid until the appeals process is exhausted,” the press release said. “This may be an initial victory to GreenShift's opponents, but as the inventors of the corn oil extraction process that has been adopted by the vast majority of ethanol plants, GreenShift expects to ultimately prevail.”
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