Rolls-Royce files patent infringement complaint

The complaint, filed in the Federal Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in the US, alleges infringement by UTC of the Rolls-Royce swept fan blade patent.

The complaint specifically alleges that the fan stages on the Engine Alliance GP7200 engine and on UTC’s PW1000G engine (also known as the Geared Turbofan) infringe the Rolls-Royce patent.

The complaint also alleges that a number of other UTC aero civil engines infringe the Rolls-Royce patent. Rolls-Royce is seeking damages and injunctions.

It is expected that the case will be heard before a jury in the Eastern District of Virginia in the first half of 2011.

The dispute has its origins in the mid-1990s when Rolls-Royce and UTC filed for similar patents within five months of one another.

In 2003 UTC applied to the US Patent Office to have the Rolls-Royce swept fan blade patent, which was filed after its own, struck out. UTC’s efforts were unsuccessful and the validity of the Rolls-Royce patent was eventually upheld in the US by a Court of Appeal decision in May 2010.