GE, MISUBISHI IN WIND LAWSUITS

Giants Gird for Wind-Energy Battle
Bob Sechler, February 7, 2011 (Wall Street Journal)

"A closely watched patent dispute in the estimated $12 billion annual U.S. market for wind-energy gear takes center stage Thursday, when General Electric Co. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. face off in a federal appeals court.

"Attorneys for GE aim to persuade the three-judge panel in Washington, D.C., to reverse a decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission a year ago that Mitsubishi didn't infringe upon GE patents for technology used in variable-speed wind turbines…Mitsubishi, which has been trying to become a bigger player in the U.S. wind-energy market, may have more riding on what has become a multifaceted legal battle than GE, the market leader."

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"Mitsubishi has contended in a separate antitrust lawsuit against GE that its U.S. sales of variable-speed wind turbines went from about $2 billion annually to zero once GE first started mounting ‘sham’ patent litigation against it in 2008 to monopolize the market…[T]he appeals court ruling in the ITC case—which isn't expected before late spring—could have significant bearing on the three years of tangled legal wrangling between the two companies.

"Mitsubishi's antitrust suit, for one, has been stayed partly to await the outcome of the ITC case. The trade commission's ruling against GE came after an administrative law judge had initially sided with the conglomerate…The judge who stayed Mitsubishi's antitrust suit said a successful outcome for GE in its appeal of the ITC decision, or in patent-infringement suits against Mitsubishi that GE filed in Texas, ‘could render [Mitsubishi's antitrust suit] moot or narrow the issues considerably.’"

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"But a favorable decision by the appeals court for either side in the ITC case is unlikely to end the many-sided battle immediately. A number of lawsuits spawned by the broad dispute remain pending, with one of the Texas cases scheduled for trial in November, and both companies have indicated they'll have legal avenues left to pursue…[B]oth also hope the appeals court bolsters their hands…

"GE contends the overall dispute boils down to protecting intellectual property rights, a principle it says is essential to a healthy wind-energy sector…"