TULSA, Okla., Sept. 21, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On September 14, 2012, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office ("PTO") issued an Order granting Syntroleum Corporation's (Nasdaq:SYNM) August 17th request for inter partes reexamination of U.S. Patent No. 8,187,344 and also issued an Office Action rejecting all claims of the patent as obvious in view of the prior art. The '344 patent is the subject of a patent suit filed by Neste Oil Oyj against Syntroleum on May 29, 2012 in the District of Delaware. The '344 patent is related to and shares the same inventors as a prior Neste patent (U.S. Patent No. 7,279,018), and both are directed to a fuel composition for diesel engines. The PTO's recent Order is consistent with a prior finding on March 22, 2012 by the PTO's Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences affirming the Examiner's rejection of the '018 patent's claims because "the evidence of record as a whole supports the Examiner's conclusion that the fuel composition as claimed would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art ...". Neste declined to appeal this ruling and on July 31, 2012, the PTO issued a Reexamination Certificate canceling all claims of the '018 patent.
Syntroleum's Answer to Neste's First Amended Complaint regarding the '344 patent is due on September 24th, and Syntroleum's Motion to Stay the district court action in view of the PTO reexamination proceedings is pending. Syntroleum has not infringed any of Neste's alleged patent rights and Syntroleum will continue to vigorously defend against the complaint's allegations. Syntroleum will also pursue invalidity of the '344 patent via the PTO reexamination proceedings, and is confident that its position will be vindicated.
About Syntroleum (Nasdaq:SYNM)
Syntroleum Corporation owns the Syntroleum® Process for Fischer-Tropsch (FT) conversion of synthesis gas into liquid hydrocarbons, the Synfining® Process for upgrading FT liquid hydrocarbons into refined petroleum products, and the Bio-Synfining® technology for converting renewable feedstocks into drop-in fuels. Syntroleum has a 50% interest in Dynamic Fuels, LLC, which operates a 75 million gallon per year renewable fuels facility located in Geismar, Louisiana utilizing its Bio-Synfining® technology. For additional information, visit the Company's web site at www.syntroleum.com
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This document includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as well as historical facts. These forward-looking statements may include statements relating to the Fischer-Tropsch ("FT") Process, Syntroleum® Process, the Synfining® Process, and related technologies including, gas-to-liquids ("GTL"), coal-to-liquids ("CTL"), and biomass-to-liquids ("BTL"), our renewable fuels Bio-Synfining® Technology, plants based on the Syntroleum® Process and/or Bio-Synfining®, anticipated costs to design, construct and operate these plants, the time of commencement and completion of the design and construction of these plants, expected production of fuel, obtaining required financing for these plants and our other activities, the economic construction and operations of Fischer-Tropsch ("FT") and/or Bio-Synfining® plants, the value and markets for products, testing, certification, characteristics and use of Plant products, the continued development of the Syntroleum® Process and Bio-Synfining® Technology and the anticipated capital expenditures, expense reductions, cash outflows, expenses, use of proceeds from out equity offerings, anticipated revenues, availability of catalyst, our support of and relationship with our licensees, and any other forward-looking statements including future growth, cash needs, capital availability, operations, business plans and financial results. When used in this document, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "should" and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify forward‑looking statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward‑looking statements are reasonable, these kinds of statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may not be consistent with these forward‑looking statements. Syntroleum undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements are described under "Item 1A. Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our 2011 Annual Report on Form 10K.
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