General Electric sues Mitsubishi over wind power technology

Concerning a dispute between General Electric and Mitsubishi over wind power, in January 2010, the International Trade Commission issued a ruling of no violation which overturned an earlier finding by an ITC administrative law judge that two of GE’s patents had been violated. Roger D. Taylor of Finnegan represented Mitsubishi.

On February 11, 2010, General Electric filed suit for patent infringement against Mitsubishi in federal district court in Dallas, Texas (ND Texas, 10-cv-00276).

In a report in BusinessWeek, GE invoked the "wall of patents" argument:

“GE has 148 issued U.S. patents related to wind energy,” Dan Nelson, a spokesman for the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company, said in a statement. Mitsubishi “has substantially less. We believe that there are multiple areas where MHI’s 2.4-megawatt wind turbines infringe on GE’s existing patents.”

Further, it appears GE will be challenging the ITC ruling:

GE said it is challenging a Jan. 8 decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington that Mitsubishi Heavy wasn’t violating five other GE patents. GE sought to block imports of turbines made by Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Heavy.