Moves to Consolidate All Pending Infringement Matters To One Court for Pretrial Proceedings
GreenShift Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: GERS) today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, GS CleanTech Corporation ("GreenShift"), has commenced legal action against eleven additional ethanol producers for infringing on GreenShift's U.S. patent covering corn oil extraction technology.
The new complaints allege that the named producers are infringing GreenShift's U.S. Patent No. 7,601,858, titled "Method of Processing Ethanol Byproducts and Related Subsystems" (the '858 Patent), which covers processes for recovering corn oil from whole stillage, a precursor to the distillers grain co-product of corn ethanol production.
On May 6, GreenShift submitted a "Motion to Transfer Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407 for Consolidated Pretrial Proceedings" to the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (the "Panel") located in Washington, D.C. In this motion, GreenShift has moved the Panel to transfer and consolidate all pending suits involving infringement of GreenShift's patents to one federal court for orderly and efficient review of all pre-trial matters.
Proven Win-Win Alternative
"Infringement is counter-productive; infringing producers can expect to pay more to produce less oil at significant exposure that increases with each pound of oil extracted," said David Winsness, GreenShift's Chief Technology Officer. "We have many millions of dollars and years of hard work invested into our patented corn oil extraction technologies and we are prepared to prosecute our rights for as long as may be needed. That said, we would prefer not to litigate and we would much rather focus on win-win solutions – we have demonstrated that producers can make more money by working with us than without us. All infringing use of our patented technologies needs to stop and all parties should instead refocus their energies and resources on continued innovation and value creation."
The following is a list of all current ethanol producers alleged to infringe the '858 Patent and now named in GreenShift's pending infringement suits:
Ethanol Producer | Â | Â | Â | Â | Location |
1. Big River Resources West Burlington, LLC | West Burlington, Illinois | ||||
2. Center Ethanol, LLC | Sauget, Illinois | ||||
3. Lincolnland Agri-Energy, LLC | Palestine, Illinois | ||||
4. Cardinal Ethanol, LLC | Union City, Indiana | ||||
5. Iroquois BioEnergy Company, LLC | Rensselear, Indiana | ||||
6. Amaizing Energy, LLC | Denison, Iowa | ||||
7. Big River Resources Galva, LLC | Galva, Iowa | ||||
8. Lincolnway Energy, LLC | Nevada, Iowa | ||||
9. Al-Corn Clean Fuel, LLC | Claremont, Minnesota | ||||
10. Bushmills Ethanol, Inc. | Atwater, Minnesota | ||||
11. Chippewa Valley Ethanol Co., LLLP | Benson, Minnesota | ||||
12. Heartland Corn Products, LLC | Winthrop, Minnesota | ||||
13. Blue Flint Ethanol, LLC | Underwood, North Dakota | ||||
14. ACE Ethanol, LLC | Stanley, Wisconsin | ||||
15. United Wisconsin Grain Producers, LLC | Friesland, Wisconsin |
Also named in GreenShift's pending infringement suits are ICM, Inc., of Colwich, Kansas and GEA Westfalia Separator, Inc., of Northvale, New Jersey based on each company's alleged infringement via the sale of equipment for use in a manner that infringes the '858 Patent.
About GreenShift Corporation
GreenShift Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: GERS) develops and commercializes clean technologies designed to address the financial and environmental needs of its clients by decreasing raw material needs, facilitating co-product reuse, and reducing the generation of wastes and emissions.
GreenShift's mission is to build shareholder value by using its technologies to catalyze disruptive environmental gain. GreenShift believes that the first, best and most cost-effective way to achieve this is to develop technology-driven economic incentives that motivate large populations of people and companies to make incremental environmental contributions that are collectively very significant. With adoption by most of the U.S. ethanol industry, GreenShift's commercially-available technologies can give way to disruptive gains by enabling sustainably increased production of globally-meaningful quantities of renewable fuels for distribution through existing supply chains. GreenShift also maintains its strong commitment to continued innovation and has many additional patents pending for its Backend Fractionationâ„¢ portfolio of strategically-compatible cleantech designed to continue driving the corn ethanol industry into increased sustainability and global competitiveness.
Additional information on GreenShift and its technologies is available online at www.greenshift.com.
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 corn oil extraction and other technologies.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of GreenShift Corporation and members of its management as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Important factors currently known to management that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-statements include fluctuation of operating results, the ability to compete successfully, and the ability to complete before-mentioned transactions. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results.
Contacts:
GreenShift Corporation
Phone: 212-994-5374
Fax: 646-572-6336
Email:
investorrelations@greenshift.com
Web:
www.greenshift.com