Counters RRs Complaint Of Patent Infringement

United Technologies division Pratt & Whitney filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut on Monday against Rolls-Royce. The Pratt & Whitney complaint follows Rolls-Royce's filing of an amended complaint against Pratt & Whitney on August 26th, 2010, claiming Pratt & Whitney infringes a Rolls-Royce patent relating to swept fan blades.

"Pratt & Whitney's position is that Rolls-Royce has engaged in unfair behavior to mislead the United States Patent & Trademark Office to obtain a patent that it now alleges Pratt & Whitney infringes," said Pratt & Whitney's Chief Intellectual Property Counsel George Romanik. "We do not infringe Rolls-Royce's patent.  Additionally, we believe the Rolls-Royce patent is invalid and unenforceable and that Rolls-Royce is unlawfully using its patent and taking other actions in an attempt to harm Pratt & Whitney."

As the litigation proceeds, Pratt & Whitney says it will continue to market its PurePower engine family. "We are confident that the lawsuit filed by Rolls-Royce will have no impact to our customers on any program at Pratt & Whitney, including the GP7200 engine and the entire PurePower family of engines," said Bob Saia, vice president, Next Generation Product Family. "The program has met all milestones on time and we expect it will continue to be on schedule, regardless of Rolls-Royce's actions. We are disappointed that Rolls-Royce chose to file a lawsuit rather than to compete in the marketplace."

FMI: www.pw.utc.com