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Gevo, Inc. and Butamax Advanced Biofuels, LLC, a joint venture between BP and DuPont, announced that they have entered into worldwide patent cross-license and settlement agreements, ending a patent dispute related to technologies for the production of bio-based isobutanol. This settlement ends all of the lawsuits and creates a new relationship between the companies, aimed at leveraging each other's strengths and accelerating development of competitive supply for bio-based isobutanol.

The cross-license agreement grants both parties patent licenses to all fields for isobutanol and is structured to develop robust and sustainable isobutanol markets. The license will be royalty bearing for Butamax in certain fields and royalty bearing for Gevo in other fields. There are also a number of fields that are royalty-free for both companies. Both parties can sell up to 30 million gallons per year royalty-free into any field.

The settlement is good news for the biobutanol industry. In June, engine manufacturers from across the recreational boating industry  agreed that biobutanol is a suitable and safe alternative biofuel to ethanol, a controversial biofuel due to its damaging effects on numerous types of engines, including those that power recreational boats. For the past five years, NMMA and ABYC under the direction and guidance of the U.S. Department of Energy and Argonne National Laboratory, have been engaged in an industry-supported program to evaluate the performance of recreational marine engines operated on fuel containing up to 16 percent biobutanol.

To read more about the settlement click here. To read more about biobutanol and recreational boating, click here.