USPTO Grants Mercury Cable's Request for Reexamination of CTC's 7,179,522 Patent

DANA POINT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mercury Cable and Energy (“Mercury Cable”) is pleased to announce that its Request for Ex Parte Reexamination of the Composite Technology Corporation (OTCBB:CPTC.OB) U.S. Patent No.7,179,522 for ACCC bare overhead transmission conductor pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §1.510 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office has been granted.

“raises a substantial new question of patentability with respect to claims 1-20.”

On 12/22/2010 a compliant Request for Ex Parte Reexamination was filed challenging the patentability of each of the 20 claims contained in U.S. Patent No. 7,179,522 (hereinafter referred to as the '522 Patent) citing 4 new items of prior art which present new, non-cumulative technological teaching that was not previously considered or discussed on the record during the prosecution of the application that resulted in the ‘522 patent and specifically was not discussed with regard to the subject matter of each of claims 1-20.

The examiner stated that the prior art submitted “raises a substantial new question of patentability with respect to claims 1-20.” The teaching in the prior art submitted by Mercury was not cited nor cumulative to the teachings in the prior art discussed during the prosecution of the application that led to the ‘522 patent. Therefore, “there is a substantial likelihood that a reasonable examiner would consider these teachings important in deciding whether claims 1-20 are patentable.”

“The cited art clearly demonstrates that, it was well known that multiple fiber types could be used in a composite core for an electrical conductor,” said Todd Harris, President of Mercury. The prior art submitted to the USPTO is also being asserted against CTC’s 162 and ‘319 patents in U.S. Federal Court as discussed in Mercury’s December 23^rd press release.

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