Indiana Intellectual Property Law News
Indianapolis, Indiana – Patent attorneys for GS CleanTech Corporation of Alpharetta, Georgia, have filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Western District of New York alleging that Western New York Energy, LLC of Medina, New York infringed Patent Nos. 7,601,858, METHOD OF PROCESSING ETHANOL BYPRODUCTS AND RELATED SUBSYSTEMS, 8,008,516, METHOD OF PROCESSING ETHANOL BYPRODUCTS AND RELATED SUBSYSTEMS, 8,008,517, METHOD OF RECOVERING OIL FROM THIN STILLAGE, and 8,283,484, METHOD OF PROCESSING ETHANOL BYPRODUCTS AND RELATED SUBSYSTEMS, which have been issued by the U.S. Patent Office. The case was transferred to the Southern District of Indiana as part of Multidistrict Litigation No. 2181.
This Multidistrict Litigation (“MDL”) began with an assertion of patent infringement by CleanTech of the ‘858 patent, which was issued on October 13, 2009. CleanTech sued numerous Defendants alleging infringement of that patent shortly after its issuance. The Defendants accused of patent infringement in prior litigation include: Big River Resources 
Galva, LLC; Big River Resources West Burlington, LLC; Cardinal Ethanol, LLC; ICM, Inc.; LincolnLand Agri-Energy, LLC; David J. Vander Griend; Iroquois Bio-Energy Co., LLC; Al-Corn Clean Fuel; Blue Flint Ethanol, LLC; ACE Ethanol, LLC; Lincolnway Energy, LLC; United Wisconsin Grain Producers, LLC; Bushmills Ethanol, Inc.; Chippewa Valley Ethanol Co.; Heartland Corn Products and Adkins Energy, LLC.
Since September 29, 2011, when the court overseeing the MDL issued its order on claim construction with respect to the disputed claims of the ‘858 patent, patentees, GS CleanTech Corp., and its parent GreenShift Corp., have asserted three additional patents in the ‘858 patent family against the allegedly infringing Defendants, U.S. Patent Nos., 8,008,516 (the “‘516 patent”), 8,008,517 (the “‘517 patent”) and 8,283,484 (the “‘484 patent”) (the ‘858, ‘516, ‘517 and ‘484 patents are, collectively, the “‘858 patent family”).
In this current lawsuit, initiated in Western District of New York, subsidiary GS CleanTech Corp. is the sole Plaintiff. Patent lawyers for CleanTech assert the following counts against Western New York Energy:
• Count I: Infringement of U.S. Patent No. 7,601,858
• Count II: Infringement of U.S. Patent No. 8,008,516
• Count III: Infringement of U.S. Patent No. 8,008,517
• Count IV: Infringement of U.S. Patent No. 8,283,484
CleanTech asks the court for preliminary and permanent injunctions prohibiting further infringement of the patents-in-suit; an award of damages adequate to compensate CleanTech for the infringement that has occurred, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the inventions of the patents-in-suit as provided in 35 U.S.C. § 284, together with prejudgment interest from the date the infringement began; and an award to CleanTech of all remedies available under 35 U.S.C. §§ 284, 285 and 154(d).
Practice Tip: The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, also known as the “MDL Panel” or, simply the “Panel,” consists of seven sitting federal judges, who are appointed to serve on the Panel by the Chief Justice of the United States. The job of the Panel is to (1) determine whether civil actions pending in different federal districts involve one or more common questions of fact such that the actions should be transferred to one federal district for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings; and (2) select the judge or judges and court assigned to conduct such proceedings.
This case was filed by Robert G. Scumaci and Melissa M. Morton of Gibson, McAskill & Crosby, LLP and assigned to District Judge Larry McKinney, Southern District of Indiana. It has been assigned Case No. 1:13-cv-08015-LJM-DML.