Some claims of PCT/US2011/020549 found unpatentable over US 20090299109

From 1967 on, Jack Webb's Dragnet popularized the text: “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.

In the "international search report" for PCT/US2011/020549 , claims 1-6 (among others) were found unpatentable over published US 2009/0299109.

The catch? Both PCT/US2011/020549 and US 20090299109 are to Gevo.


US 20090299109 (application serial number (12/327723 ) with inventors Gruber, Peters, Griffith, Obaidi, Manzer, and Taylor, was filed December 3, 2008 and published December 3, 2009. Correspondence is to COOLEY GODWARD KRONISH LLP.

The priority date for the PCT is January 8, 2010, corresponding to the filing of provisional application 61/293,459 . The PCT itself was filed on January 7, 2011. The listed inventors are Peters, Taylor, Jenni, Henton, and Manzer. The listed agent is Cooley LLP.


In passing, 35 USC 103(b) states:

(b)

(1) Notwithstanding subsection (a), and upon timely election by the applicant for patent to proceed under this subsection, a biotechnological process using or resulting in a composition of matter that is novel under section 102 and nonobvious under subsection (a) of this section shall be considered nonobvious if-

(A) claims to the process and the composition of matter are contained in either the same application for patent or in separate applications having the same effective filing date; and

(B) the composition of matter, and the process at the time it was invented, were owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person.

(2) A patent issued on a process under paragraph (1)-

(A) shall also contain the claims to the composition of matter used in or made by that process, or

(B) shall, if such composition of matter is claimed in another patent, be set to expire on the same date as such other patent, notwithstanding section 154.

(3) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term "biotechnological process" means-

(A) a process of genetically altering or otherwise inducing a single- or multi-celled organism to-

(i) express an exogenous nucleotide sequence,

(ii) inhibit, eliminate, augment, or alter expression of an endogenous nucleotide sequence, or

(iii) express a specific physiological characteristic not naturally associated with said organism;

(B) cell fusion procedures yielding a cell line that expresses a specific protein, such as a monoclonal antibody; and

(C) a method of using a product produced by a process defined by subparagraph (A) or (B), or a combination of subparagraphs (A) and (B).


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Gevo has brought on board cellulosic expert Robert Wooley, Ph.D., as Vice President of Process Development. Wooley was the biomass technology leader at NatureWorks LLC, and technology manager for the biofuels program at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Gevo CEO Gruber joined Gevo from Outlast Technologies, where he served as President and CEO. Prior to this, he was a founder and CTO of Cargill Dow/NatureWorks LLC, the first company to develop and successfully commercialize the renewable resource-based PLA (Polylactic Acid) to replace petrochemical plastics.