In February, DomesticFuel brought you a story regarding GreenShift Corporation’s lawsuit against Big River Resources Galva, Big River Resources West Burlington and Cardinal Ethanol. GreenShift claims that the plants, using ICM’s corn extraction technology, are infringing upon their U.S. patent covering its corn oil extraction technology. In a companion matter, ICM filed a lawsuit against CleanTech, the affiliate of GreenShift Corporation, in federal court in Kansas last October requesting that the court declare CleanTech’s patent invalid. In addition, ICM filed motions on behalf of their plants to stay the proceedings and consolidate them with the Kansas case.

During the past several weeks, courts in Indiana and Illinois has ruled in favor of the ethanol plants and all cases will be tried in the Kansas court alongside the request to invalidate CleanTech’s patent.

Brian Burris, ICM’s General Counsel, stated, “ICM is pleased with the recent rulings by the U.S. District Courts in Indiana and Illinois regarding the litigation proceedings with GS CleanTech. As we have previously stated, ICM strongly believes that GS CleanTech’s alleged patent claims are and will be proved to be invalid. Since our inception in 1995, ICM remains committed to our industry and our customers – whether through creating revenue-enhancing products and services, or assuming their defense in cases such as this.”