Ze-gen Hit by Patent Suit

Fall River, MA-based Quantum Catalytics and an affiliated Houston company called Texas Syngas have filed a patent infringement suit against Boston-based waste gasification startup Ze-gen in federal district court in Boston, the Patriot Ledger in Quincy, MA, first reported on Tuesday. The suit alleges that Ze-gen’s gasification technology is based on trade secrets obtained through former employees and consultants of Molten Metal Technology—the original assignee for gasification patents now owned by Quantum Catalytics—who later went to work for Ze-gen. Bill Davis, CEO of Ze-gen, told the Patriot Ledger that the lawsuit is frivolous and was “brought by ‘patent trolls’ whose motives are to extort money from the company.” We profiled Ze-gen, which is building a pilot syngas plant in New Bedford, MA, in August 2007.

Author: Wade Roush

Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco. Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.) I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia. I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats. My personal site: waderoush.com My social media coordinates: Twitter: @wroush Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967 Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/ Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/