Gevo Wins Appeals Court Ruling in Butamax Patent Dispute

Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC, a joint venture of DuPont Co. and BP Plc (BP/), lost an appeals court bid to block Gevo Inc. (GEVO) from selling some of its biofuels products while a patent-infringement case is pending.

Gevo has raised “a substantial question of validity” of the Butamax patent, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in upholding a judge’s decision not to issue a court ban. The court did say that U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson in Wilmington, Delaware should reconsider her interpretation of the patent. The case is part of a broader dispute between the two companies over genetically engineered microorganisms used to produce biofuels.

To contact the reporter on this story: Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bob Drummond at bdrummond@bloomberg.net