Investor Conference Call Scheduled today with
Brett Lund at 9 a.m. EDT
Media Conference Call Scheduled today with Brett
Lund at 10 a.m. EDT
ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 20, 2012--
Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO), a leading renewable chemicals and
next-generation biofuels company, announced today that the U.S. District
Court of Delaware denied the Motion for Preliminary Injunction sought by
Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels, LLC (Butamax) against Gevo. This decision
replaces the previous court order, and means that Gevo is once again
free to sell in any market, to any customer, in any region.
“We are pleased that the first judicial decision in this dispute landed
decisively in favor of Gevo,” said Brett Lund, EVP and General Counsel
for Gevo. “For the last year, we have publicly stated that we believe
that Patent No. 7,993,889 (‘889 Patent) is invalid and that we do not
infringe. This ruling provides judicial support for both positions.”
In the Honorable Judge Sue L. Robinson’s judicial opinion, she stated,
“that plaintiff (Butamax) does not hold a valid patent, nor would the
defendant (Gevo) infringe if it did.”
On Sept. 22, 2011, Butamax petitioned the Court for a preliminary
injunction against Gevo and accused Gevo of infringing the ‘889 Patent.
Gevo opposed Butamax’s motion, explaining that the asserted claims of
the ‘889 Patent are neither valid nor infringed. The Court has now ruled
in favor of Gevo and denied Butamax’s request for a preliminary
injunction.
“Gevo has consistently maintained that it does not infringe Butamax’s
‘889, ‘188 (Patent No. 7,851,188) and ‘328 (Patent No. 8,178,328)
patents, because the Gevo-created NKR enzyme used in our engineered
yeast strains uses NADH, and not NADPH, as an electron donor,” said
Lund. “NADH enables Gevo’s yeast strains to produce isobutanol at much
greater efficiencies than strains using NADPH.”
In rejecting Butamax’s allegations of infringement, the Court held that
the KARI enzymes of Butamax’s ‘889 Patent are “explicitly defined as
being exclusively NADPH-dependent.” “This is important, because the same
definitions are provided within Butamax’s ‘188 and ‘328 patents that
have also been asserted against Gevo,” said Lund.
In addition to achieving this significant victory before the Court in
Delaware, Gevo continues to make strides within the United States Patent
& Trademark Office (USPTO). Consistent with the Court’s findings, the
USPTO has rejected all of the Butamax claims that Gevo has challenged,
finding those claims rejected as unpatentable in view of a substantial
collection of prior art as indicated in reexamination case files (Serial
No. 95/001,735 for the ‘889 Patent and Serial No. 95/001,857 for the
‘188 Patent).
“We are up against two of the biggest companies in our industry (BP and
DuPont) and believe that Butamax’s failed motion and ongoing
infringement claims are without merit and are merely attempts to derail
Gevo’s progress,” said Lund. “But we have prevailed. We’ve commenced the
startup of our Luverne Plant, proved to the USPTO that Butamax’s ‘889
and ‘188 patents are unpatentable and won the preliminary injunction
hearing convincingly. We are ready to move on with the commercialization
of renewable isobutanol for the benefit of our customers in the chemical
and fuels industries.
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To participate in the INVESTOR conference
call at 9 a.m. EDT, please dial 1-866-713-8310 or
1-617-597-5308 and reference the access code: 93901031. The
call will be available via a live webcast at: http://www.media-server.com/m/p/hacjfkr5.
A replay of the Investor conference call will be available from
June 20 to June 27 by dialing 888-286-8010 or 617-801-6888 and
reference the access code: 67408138.
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To participate in the MEDIA conference call at 10 a.m. EDT, please
dial 1-866-770-7051 or 1-617-213-8064 and reference the access
code 55935249. The call will be available via a live webcast
at: http://www.media-server.com/m/p/94s72kdk.
A replay of the Media conference call will be available from
June 20 to June 27 by dialing 888-286-8010 or 617-801-6888 and
reference the access code: 87974369.
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About Gevo
Gevo is converting existing ethanol plants into biorefineries to make
renewable building block products for the chemical and fuel industries.
The Company plans to convert renewable raw materials into isobutanol and
renewable hydrocarbons that can be directly integrated on a “drop in”
basis into existing chemical and fuel products to deliver environmental
and economic benefits. Gevo is committed to a sustainable biobased
economy that meets society’s needs for plentiful food and clean air and
water. For more information, visit www.gevo.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements
that are not purely statements of historical fact, and can sometimes be
identified by our use of terms such as “intend,” “expect,” “plan,”
“estimate,” “future,” “strive” and similar words. These forward-looking
statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations
and assumptions of the management of Gevo and are subject to significant
risks and uncertainty. Investors are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on any such forward-looking statements. All such
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and
the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected
in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements
involve many risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to
differ materially from what may be expressed or implied in these
forward-looking statements. For a further discussion of risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those
expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating
to the business of Gevo in general, see the risk disclosures in the
Annual Report on Form 10-K of Gevo for the year ended December 31, 2011,
and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings made
with the SEC by Gevo.

Source: Gevo, Inc.
Media:
Gevo, Inc.
Greta Thomsen, 303-715-8928
Director of
Marcom and PR
[email protected]
or
Investors:
Stern
IR for Gevo
Sarah McCabe, 267-909-9237
[email protected]