- Jan 7, 2002
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WASHINGTON -- A Georgia inventor has won the second round in his fight with the giant Caterpillar Corp. over rights to technology behind a new diesel engine that has brought the company billions of dollars in sales.
On Thursday, a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examiner declared for the second time that most of the claims for which Caterpillar was awarded a patent last year were not patentable because Clyde Bryant of Alpharetta, now 78, had already invented them.
At stake in the patent fight are the rights to an idea that Caterpillar has used to sell more than 200,000 of its award-winning "ACERT" diesel engines.
Bryant, a retired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chemist, last October challenged a 2004 patent awarded to two Caterpillar engineers for a system of injecting a charge of cooled air into a diesel engine at a critical point in the combustion cycle. He claimed the patent was a restatement of a system that he patented in 2001.
Both Bryant's patent and the one awarded to two Caterpillar engineers last year claim the technique results in sharply improved engine efficiency, reducing both pollution and fuel use.
Bryant's challenge, technically a request for a "reexamination" of the Caterpillar patent, resulted in a declaration by examiner Thomas Moulis(cq) in December that the bulk of Caterpillar's innovations had already been described by Bryant's patent and others.
In the next phase of the Paten Office's reexamination procedure, Caterpillar argued that its patent should not be withdrawn and submitted statements from experts who said Bryant's invention too vague to have merited a patent. Bryant's lawyers then responded to the Caterpillar arguments and brought in statements from their own experts.
Caterpillar has 30 days to decide whether to contest Moulis' Thursday declaration, which was virtually identical to the December finding. It can also appeal to federal court.
A company spokesman on Friday issued a brief written statement that Caterpillar was disappointed in the most recent decision, which it said it would "be studying in greater detail" before deciding what to do next.
Bryant's lawyer, Louis Isaf of Atlanta, said, "We are encouraged by the latest result and other than that, no comment."
The two Caterpillar engineers were named national "inventors of the year" last year by the Intellectual Property Owners Association for the patent, which they assigned to Caterpillar.
Bryant is chairman of Entec Engine Corp., an Alpharetta-based company set up to promote his inventions.
On Thursday, a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examiner declared for the second time that most of the claims for which Caterpillar was awarded a patent last year were not patentable because Clyde Bryant of Alpharetta, now 78, had already invented them.
At stake in the patent fight are the rights to an idea that Caterpillar has used to sell more than 200,000 of its award-winning "ACERT" diesel engines.
Bryant, a retired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chemist, last October challenged a 2004 patent awarded to two Caterpillar engineers for a system of injecting a charge of cooled air into a diesel engine at a critical point in the combustion cycle. He claimed the patent was a restatement of a system that he patented in 2001.
Both Bryant's patent and the one awarded to two Caterpillar engineers last year claim the technique results in sharply improved engine efficiency, reducing both pollution and fuel use.
Bryant's challenge, technically a request for a "reexamination" of the Caterpillar patent, resulted in a declaration by examiner Thomas Moulis(cq) in December that the bulk of Caterpillar's innovations had already been described by Bryant's patent and others.
In the next phase of the Paten Office's reexamination procedure, Caterpillar argued that its patent should not be withdrawn and submitted statements from experts who said Bryant's invention too vague to have merited a patent. Bryant's lawyers then responded to the Caterpillar arguments and brought in statements from their own experts.
Caterpillar has 30 days to decide whether to contest Moulis' Thursday declaration, which was virtually identical to the December finding. It can also appeal to federal court.
A company spokesman on Friday issued a brief written statement that Caterpillar was disappointed in the most recent decision, which it said it would "be studying in greater detail" before deciding what to do next.
Bryant's lawyer, Louis Isaf of Atlanta, said, "We are encouraged by the latest result and other than that, no comment."
The two Caterpillar engineers were named national "inventors of the year" last year by the Intellectual Property Owners Association for the patent, which they assigned to Caterpillar.
Bryant is chairman of Entec Engine Corp., an Alpharetta-based company set up to promote his inventions.
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