4C Offshore Empowering Intelligence

Judge issues royalty ruling in GE vs SGRE patent dispute

4C Offshore | Tom Russell
By: Tom Russell 03/02/2023 GE

The US District Court of Massachusetts has ruled that GE Renewable Energy is liable for royalty payments for the deployment of its Haliade-X wind turbines at the Ocean Wind 1 offshore wind farm off the coast of New Jersey.


According to Judge William G. Young's ruling, for each infringing Haliade-X wind turbine installed at Ocean Wind 1 Offshore Energy Project, GE shall pay SGRE a royalty consisting of $60,000 per megawatt of rated capacity within 30 days after the end of the month in which the Haliade-X wind turbine is installed.

Judge William G. Young also declined to grant SGRE's request for an upfront payment of the royalty fee in the order.


A GE Renewable Energy spokesperson revealed that the company is appealing the judgment, including the injunction, and is are confident in the redesigns it has submitted per the process outlined by the court. The company is also confident that it will be able to supply the Vineyard Wind and Ocean Wind 1 projects with the current designs.  

“While we are disappointed with the royalty ruling, which does not follow the jury’s verdict or account for today’s economic realities, the Ocean Wind project will move forward. We remain committed to the US offshore wind market at this pivotal time for the industry and are pursuing all legal and technical options, including an appeal and redesigns, to bring the benefits of the Haliade-X to US customers”,
said a GE Renewable Energy Spokesperson.

SGRE issued the following comment: “Siemens Gamesa welcomes the Court’s order recognizing our position.”

To remind, a lawsuit was filed back in 2020, in which Siemens Gamesa alleged that GE’s offshore wind turbine Haliade-X infringes two of its offshore Direct Drive technology patents. One concerned the enhancement of direct drive technology (776) and the other concerned its novel structural support arrangement (413).

The resulting legal proceedings led to a jury's decision
back in June that GE Renewable Energy infringed patent 413 and as a result Siemens Gamesa was entitled to a royalty rate of $30,000 per MW GE Renewable Energy's use of infringing turbines.

Following this, US District Judge William Young's
ruled in September 2022 in favour of Siemens Gamesa, and prevented GE Renewable Energy from using a specific design for the Haliade-X that has been deemed to infringe the 413 patent.

The
Ocean Wind 1 and Vineyard Wind projects were made exempt from the ruling and will be supplied with GE Renewable Energy's turbine. However, as per the jury's finding previously, for each infringing Haliade-X wind turbine installed GE Renewable Energy shall pay Siemens Gamesa a royalty consisting of $30,000 per megawatt for Vineyard Wind. A royalty rate for Ocean Wind 1 has now been established of $60,000 per megawatt.

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