USTPO Affirms Key Claims of Gevo's "AFT" Patent

Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO) commented on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) decision to deny a Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels, LLC (Butamax) request to reexamine key claims of U.S. Patent No. 8,017,376 (‘376 Patent), "Methods of Increasing Dihydroxy Acid Dehydratase Activity to Improve Production of Fuels, Chemicals and Amino Acids" or AFT patent. “We are extremely pleased with the USPTO's decision to uphold key claims of our ‘376 Patent,” said Brett Lund, Gevo's EVP and General Counsel. “The USPTO only adopted a fraction of Butamax's proposed rejections and simultaneously upheld the validity of claims we believe Butamax is infringing. Despite Butamax's statements to the contrary, this decision is a significant win for Gevo, and bolsters our pending infringement case against Butamax.” “Importantly, the USPTO's decision means that Butamax is now prohibited from asserting that Gevo's upheld claims are invalid during litigation. As evidenced by Butamax's own publications, we are confident that they are infringing our ‘376 Patent and we look forward to proving that in court,” added Lund.