Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Commitments and Contingencies

v3.20.2
Commitments and Contingencies
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2020
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES (Note 11)  
Note 11 - Commitments and Contingencies

Fixed Price Contract

 

The Company’s multi-year contracts with its commercial customers contain fixed prices for product. These contracts expire between 2020 and 2025 and expose the Company to the potential risks associated with rising material costs during that same period. Revenue reported during interim periods were recorded based on the facts and circumstances at the time and any differences noted when the final revenue is determined is considered to be a change in estimate for the period.

 

Legal proceedings

 

On July 17, 2019, the Company initiated patent litigation against certain defendants in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware for infringement of United States Patent Nos. 10,343,114 (the “‘114 Patent”) and 8,168,147 (the “‘147 Patent”) owned by the Company. These patents relate to the Company’s two-part Sorbent Enhancement Additive (SEA®) process for mercury removal from coal-fired power plants. Named as defendants in the lawsuit are (i) Vistra Energy Corp., AEP Generation Resources Inc., NRG Energy, Inc., Talen Energy Corporation, and certain of their respective affiliated entities, all of which are owners and/or operators of coal-fired power plants in the United States, and (ii) Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., DTE REF Holdings, LLC, CERT Coal Holdings LLC, Chem-Mod LLC, and certain of their respective affiliated entities, and additional named and unnamed defendants, all of which operate or are involved in operations of coal facilities in the United States. In the lawsuit, the Company alleges that each of the defendants has willfully infringed the Company’s ‘114 Patent and ‘147 Patent and seeks a permanent injunction from further acts of infringement and monetary damages. Such litigation is currently pending and in its early stages.

 

On April 21, 2020, NRG Energy, Inc., Talen Energy Corporation and Vistra Energy Corp., three of the defendants in the above action, filed two petitions for Inter Partes Review (“IPR”) with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), seeking to invalidate certain claims to the ‘114 Patent on May 27, 2020, such defendants filed two additional petitions for IPR with the USPTO, seeking to invalidate certain claims to the ‘147 Patent. On or about July 15, 2020, AEP Generation Resources, Inc., another defendant in the above action, filed four petitions for IPR with the USPTO, seeking to invalidate certain claims to the ‘114 Patent and ‘147 Patent. The Company believes that all of the foregoing claims of invalidity are without merit. (See Note 14 for information on the fleetwide license and supply agreement executed on July 30, 2020 with Vistra Corp.)

 

Except for the foregoing disclosures, the Company is not presently aware of any other material pending legal proceedings to which the Company is a party or of which any of its property is the subject.

 

Litigation, including patent litigation, is inherently subject to uncertainties. As such, there can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in litigating and/or settling any of these claims.