Tag: Vestas

• GE and Vestas announced yesterday that they have reached a settlement in their long-running patent battle over “Zero Voltage Ride Through” or “ZVRT” technology.
• The parties are taking actions to dismiss all aspects of the dispute, including a patent infringement lawsuit being heard in federal court and multiple patent validity challenges at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

GE and Vestas have announced “an amicable settlement of all disputes related to multiple patent infringement claims in the U.S.,” bringing to an end their long-running patent battle over “Zero Voltage Ride Through” or “ZVRT” technology. Although details remain confidential, the parties announced that the settlement agreement includes:

1. A full release of liability for any past infringement of the patents-in-suit;
2. A cross-license of the patents-in-suit and their family members; and
3. A confidential payment from Vestas to GE.

Continue reading “GE and Vestas Settle Patent Dispute”

• The Patent Trial and Appeal Board denied a challenge brought by Vestas Wind Systems A/S against a General Electric patent directed to technology for connecting wind turbines to the electric grid.
• GE and Vestas remain locked in a long-running patent battle over “Zero Voltage Ride Through” or “ZVRT” technology. Each party has brought challenges against the validity of the other party’s patents to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which is expected to hear those challenges over roughly the next 12 months.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board denied a challenge brought by Vestas Wind Systems A/S in the year-long patent feud with General Electric.  The Board, an adjudicatory body within the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, determined that the challenge brought by Vestas against GE’s U.S. Patent No. 6,921,985 was nearly identical to an earlier challenge heard by the Patent Office.  Since re-hearing similar challenges is considered an inefficient use of the limited resources of the Patent Office, the Board decided to deny the Vestas challenge. Continue reading “Vestas Challenge to Invalidate GE Wind Tech Patent is Denied”

• After filing a first challenge against GE’s U.S. Patent No. 6,921, 985 in May, Vestas has filed a second challenge in August to expand its attack on that patent. GE had previously asserted the ’985 Patent against Vestas in a federal patent infringement lawsuit.

Last month Vestas Wind added yet another proceeding to its year-long patent battle against General Electric Company, filing a new challenge against GE’s U.S. Patent No. 6,921,985 at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Vestas had already filed one challenge against the ’985 Patent in May, and appears to have filed a second challenge to attack additional claims of the ’985 Patent. Continue reading “Vestas Files New Challenge Against GE Wind Turbine Patent”

• The patent litigation between GE and Vestas was put on hold pending the outcome of several challenges to the disputed patents brought at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.
• The patents at issue include both GE and Vestas patents directed to wind turbine technology, and specifically to ensuring safe and reliable connections between wind turbines and the power grid.
• Based on scheduling at the PTAB, the patent litigation will likely be suspended for a minimum of six months and a maximum of eighteen months.

The U.S. District Court judge hearing a dispute over wind turbine patents between GE and Vestas put the case on hold last week, electing to await developments in a series of challenges brought against the patents at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). In an order signed June 7, 2018, Judge Andre Birotte Jr. indicated that the litigation is stayed (suspended) until the PTAB has issued Institution Decisions in each of the validity challenges filed by GE and Vestas (for a recap of those challenges, see our earlier posts regarding GE’s challenges against Vestas and Vestas’s challenges against GE). Continue reading “Wind Turbine Litigation: Judge Orders Stay of GE v. Vestas”