Big River Correspondence and a long PS.

When you view this ICM defense, you read about the "July GreenShift Letter(s)" and the "October GreenShift Letter(s)" that GERS sent out to notify potential patent infringers.  ICM claims the letters  ". . .interfered with ICM's sales of centrifuge equipment."p.7   The SkunK has found and brought to you the letters GreenShift sent to Big River Resources so you can read and decide for yourself: 

17 July 2009 Letter to Big River Resources

7 October 2009 Letter to Big River Resources

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SkunK

ps.  Still do not think COES are a big deal?  Go and look at the "Home Page of Cardinal Ethanol".  You will see that a link to the Feb 2010 Cardinal PR on the GreenShift Lawsuit is front and center on the home page.  Obviously Cardinal Ethanol Stakeholders have 'questions'  concerning how they got to where they are today. 

Jeff Painter stated, “ICM will be defending Cardinal in the Indiana litigation; the litigation involves our operation of ICM equipment and we are directing all further inquiries to ICM. In the interim period, Cardinal expects to continue to operate its oil recovery system.”

With GreenShift standing by these Corn Oil Extraction System Patents issued by the United States Patent Office; and Cardinal Ethanol  [and Big River(s)] Management deciding to stand with ICM, the SkunK would have these specific questions if he were a Cardinal [or Big River(s)or unnamed Doe] Stakeholder:

1.  Is the ICM defense "free"? 

2.  In order to get this defense, did Plant Management sign away their ability to counter sue ICM if things go sour?

3.  Who makes the payments on the non-patented Corn Oil Extraction System if the preliminary injunction shuts it down in April or May and it no longer generates cash? 

4.  Who pays the patent infringement damages if it comes to that?  Are there limits?  What if damages awarded are in the multi-million dollar range?  Are contingencies being developed? 

5.  Does your Ethanol Plant have Liability Insurance that covers Patent Infringement?  Does it cover infringement after the notification letters above?

The SkunK is interested in the answer to these questions for a couple reasons.  He grew up hand milking and drinking the raw milk from a gentle Guernsey named 'Lucky'.  He has family and friends that are farmers. Some of those have investments in Ethanol Plants.  Most of us invested in GreenShift are aware of the many risks involved in our investment.  I do not think that most stakeholders in Ethanol Plants were made aware of the potential liability risks to their capital - when their management chose a non-patented COES.  

As too many Ethanol Industry stakeholders learned during the recent downturn, when many  Ethanol Plant Managements made a huge mistake [locking in high corn prices - only to see corn prices collapse], management can always move on - with stakeholders left to foot the bill . . .