GE asks judge to block Mitsubishi suit over wind turbine patents
Arkansas News|Lewis Delavan|August 9, 2010
Mitsubishi lawyer Filibero Agusti said other companies own similar technology that that Mitsubishi would show that at least one of GE's patents is invalid. He contended that a patent GE acquired from now-defunct Enron Corp. was purchased to pursue "sham litigation" intended to maintain its monopoly of the wind turbine market.
Mitsubishi lawyer Filibero Agusti said other companies own similar technology that that Mitsubishi would show that at least one of GE's patents is invalid. He contended that a patent GE acquired from now-defunct Enron Corp. was purchased to pursue "sham litigation" intended to maintain its monopoly of the wind turbine market.
LITTLE ROCK - Industrial giant General Electric asked a federal judge here Monday to dismiss or delay a lawsuit by rival Mitsubishi challenging GE's patent rights to wind turbine technology the Japanese firm intends to employ at a planned $100 million operation in Fort Smith.
Mitsubishi accuses GE of attempting to stifle competition through an illegal monopoly with its 70 percent share of the U.S. market for variable-speed wind turbines in its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court at Fayetteville.
Arguing Monday before U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes, GE lawyer David Lender said the company's patents protect its proprietary variable-speed turbine technology and that cases pending in Texas would confirm its patents are valid, rendering …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]LITTLE ROCK - Industrial giant General Electric asked a federal judge here Monday to dismiss or delay a lawsuit by rival Mitsubishi challenging GE's patent rights to wind turbine technology the Japanese firm intends to employ at a planned $100 million operation in Fort Smith.
Mitsubishi accuses GE of attempting to stifle competition through an illegal monopoly with its 70 percent share of the U.S. market for variable-speed wind turbines in its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court at Fayetteville.
Arguing Monday before U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes, GE lawyer David Lender said the company's patents protect its proprietary variable-speed turbine technology and that cases pending in Texas would confirm its patents are valid, rendering Mitsubishi's suit in Arkansas moot.
However, Mitsubishi lawyer Filibero Agusti said other companies own similar technology that that Mitsubishi would show that at least one of GE's patents is invalid. He contended that a patent GE acquired from now-defunct Enron Corp. was purchased to pursue "sham litigation" intended to maintain its monopoly of the wind turbine market.
In October, Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas Inc. announced plans to locate a 200,000-square-foot windpower turbine manufacturing facility near Fort Smith, creating about 400 new jobs. Construction of the plant at Chaffee Crossing is slated to begin in early 2011.
Mitsubishi officials said last week in Fort Smith that plans for the facility would proceed despite patent infringement lawsuits filed by GE in Dallas and Corpus Christi, Texas, to either stop or delay projects.
Agusti said during Monday's hearing that GE's legal challenges make it difficult to obtain financing for projects.
"Their goal is not so much to win cases as to keep the ball in the air," Augusti said.
He said Mitsubishi has gone from $2 billion in annual U.S. sales of variable-speed turbines to nearly nothing since GE filed suit alleging infringement on two patents.
"We are effectively shut down (without financing)" he added. "A lot of people are watching this case."
Holmes did not rule in the Arkansas case Monday.