GE and Siemens Gamesa have “reached an amicable settlement” to end their European and US patent disputes, according to both manufacturers.
The terms of the settlement are confidential.
The firms said in a joint statement: “GE and Siemens Gamesa have reached an amicable settlement of all their wind turbine technology patent disputes in the United States and Europe on confidential terms and have granted each other and their respective subsidiaries worldwide cross licenses under the asserted patent families, for the life of those patent families.”
Last month, a US judge doubled the royalty payment GE was to pay Siemens Gamesa as part of a patent infringement case over the US company’s Haliade-X wind turbines.
The decision means that GE will need to pay $60,000 per MW for each turbine installed at the 1.1GW Ocean Wind project off New Jersey.
In his ruling, US District Judge William Young lambasted the two companies, saying that the lawsuit “does nothing to advance the public interest of the people of the United States or any other nation.
“Indeed, it inhibits efforts to combat climate change world-wide,” he added.
Last year, Young ruled that GE could no longer offer the specific 12MW-14MW design of its Haliade-X turbine as it infringed one of the Siemens Gamesa’s patents.
However, a special ‘carve-out’ in the ruling meant it could still supply the Ocean Wind 1 project with the turbines.
In November last in a European case, the UK High Court ruled GE’s Haliade-X turbine does not infringe on a patent held by Siemens Gamesa.
High Court Justice Meade ruled that GE Renewable Energy’s fully assembled Haliade-X nor its rotor hub infringe on the patent.
The ruling applied to any activity involving the Haliade-X in the UK, where GE Renewable Energy has a contract to supply the turbine to SSE Renewables, Equinor and Vargronn’s Dogger Bank offshore wind farm.
The UK patent case is separate to the patent case against the Haliade-X in the US, and a case in France.