Mercury Cable Requests Summary Judgment Based on Invalidity of CTC Patent Claims

DANA POINT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mercury Cable and Energy (“Mercury Cable”) announces that it has filed a Motion for Summary Judgment in Federal District Court (Case No.: CV-09-261 DOC (MLGx)) which asks the Court to invalidate each of the asserted claims of Composite Technology Corporation (OTCBB:CPTC.OB) contained in United States Patent Numbers 7,306,162 and 7,211,319 (collectively the “CTC patents in suit”) which are directed to composite core electric transmission cables.

On January 3, 2011, counsel for Mercury Cable filed with the Federal District Court a motion for summary judgment that the asserted claims of the CTC patents in suit are invalid as anticipated and obvious in light of publicly available prior art that predates the filing dates of the CTC patents in suit by several years. In its filing, counsel for Mercury Cable contends that there is nothing novel in the asserted claims, as each and every element of the asserted claims is disclosed and taught by a single reference published for the Electric Power Research Institute (“EPRI”) approximately seven years before the priority date of the CTC patents in suit. Further, combining the EPRI reference with any one or more of several other prior art references also renders the asserted claims of the patents invalid for obviousness.

Court filings may be viewed at: http://www.pacer.gov/

Mercury Cable & Energy is a privately‐held developer of High Voltage Composite Reinforced Conductors (HVCRC), Smart Conductors for the Smart Grid. The patented HVCRC Smart Conductor is superior to existing conductors in a number of key performance areas including:

• Up to double the current carrying capacity of ACSR
• Substantially reduces high‐temperature sag
• Requires fewer structures for new line construction
• Increases capacity of existing rights‐of‐way and structures through retrofitting
• Eliminates bi‐metallic corrosion
• Significantly reduces line losses compared to same‐diameter conventional and composite conductors at equal operating temperatures