GE Claims Rival Pratt's New Engine Ideas Are 30 Years Old
- Patent dispute over geared turbofan is latest in competition
- Petitions against Pratt filed with government's `death squad'
An attendee browses a Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation, aircraft engine during the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, China, on Nov. 10, 2014.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The war between General Electric Co. and United Technologies Corp. over the global jet-engine market has a new battlefront: the U.S. patent office.
GE claims that turbine technology now used by Pratt & Whitney, the engine division of United Technologies, is rooted in ideas dating back to the 1970s, according to Jan. 29 petitions filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. GE is seeking to overturn five patents owned by United Technologies and Pratt, as well as one owned by Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc.