Enercon - Patent Dispute

Patent Dispute

Enercon was prohibited from exporting their wind turbines to the US until 2010 due to alleged infringement of U.S. Patent 5,083,039 . In a dispute before the United States International Trade Commission, Enercon did not challenge the vailidity of the US patent but argued that their technology was not affected. The ITC decided that the patent covered the technology in question and banned Enercon turbines from the US market until 2010. Later on, a cross patent agreement was made with the competitor General Electric, the successor of Kenetech, after similar claims of Enercon against GE. According to a NSA employee detailed information concerning Enercon was passed on to Kenetech via ECHELON. The aim of the alleged espionage against Enercon was the forwarding of details of Wobben's generator technology to a US firm. However, the patent in question was registered in 1991, three years before the alleged espionage event.