SAN ANTONIO -- Valero Energy Corp. officials said the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected a Unocal Corp. patent on reformulated gasoline, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.
The patent office found in an "office action" on Jan. 31 that Unocal "did not invent anything new or novel because the 393 compositions were so close to prior gasoline," Valero said in a statement e-mailed to news organizations. Valero and other refiners have been seeking to have the patent abolished, while Unocal has been charging other refiners to use the patented bland on a cents-per-gallon basis.
According to the Bloomberg report, Unocal spokesman Barry Lane denied the patent office had nullified the patent. "We're confident that (the patent office) will come to the same conclusions as the previous patent examiner and three federal courts that the patent is valid," Lane said.
