Alston & Bird client Ford Motor Co. secured a final judgment of noninfringement in Delaware federal court against claims by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Ethanol Boosting Systems LLC (EBS) alleging that Ford infringed patented technology that produces cleaner and more-efficient engines.
Patent owner MIT and exclusive licensee EBS, which is an entity started by three MIT professors, had accused Ford in January 2019 of infringing four patents related to fuel management systems for dual port- and direct-injection technology allegedly in certain of Ford’s EcoBoost® engines.
In granting final judgment of noninfringement, Judge Colm F. Connolly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware found in favor of Ford on all asserted patents: U.S. Patent No. 8,069,839; U.S. Patent No. 9,255,519; U.S. Patent No. 9,810,166; and U.S. Patent No. 10,138,826.
The noninfringement judgment follows a claim construction order issued by Judge Connolly in January, following which MIT and EBS conceded that the court’s choice of language describing the patents’ claims meant none of the targeted products would satisfy the limitations of the asserted claims.
Representing Ford in the matter is an Alston & Bird team led by partners Michael Connor and Natalie Clayton, senior associates Andrew Ligotti and Brian Hill, and associate Katie Burkhart of the firm’s Patent Litigation Group.
The case is Ethanol Boosting Systems LLC, et al. v. Ford Motor Co., No. 1:19-cv-00196, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.