Judge won’t toss suit
SUNY Research Foundation accused of not enforcing patent
Lawsuit filed by Albany Nanotech founder Alain Kaloyeros against SUNY Research Foundation over one of his inventions moves forward./
A lawsuit filed last year by Albany Nanotech founder Alain Kaloyeros against the SUNY Research Foundation over one of his computer chip inventions is moving forward after a state Supreme Court judge in Albany denied the foundation’s attempt to have the case dismissed.
Kaloyeros, who was removed from his job as president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute and head of Albany Nanotech in the fall of 2016 amid charges of bid-rigging, has been seeking lost compensation for a patent covering computer chip technology he invented two decades ago when he was a physics professor at the University at Albany.
The invention, which involved the use of cobalt to connect transistors in microchips, received a patent in 2002. Kaloyeros claims that in 2018 he discovered his cobalt invention had been in use by chipmakers for at least two years — suddenly making the patent potentially worth tens of millions of dollars.
Kaloyeros alleges that the Research Foundation, which oversees research grants and intellectual property rights for the State University of New York system, failed to monetize the patent even after he notified the Research Foundation of its use by the chip industry.
Although the lawsuit doesn’t specify which companies have been using cobalt in their chips, many of the world’s top chipmakers have adopted cobalt in chips. However, they too have have been granted their own patents covering cobalt technology.
Kaloyeros, who is free on appeal after being found guilty in 2018 of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy in federal court in Manhattan, created and grew Albany Nanotech into one of the premier semiconductor research labs in the country through joint investments by the state and the world’s top chipmakers and their manufacturing suppliers. Tenants include IBM, Intel, Samsung and others, as well as SUNY Poly, the nanoscience school Kaloyeros spun off from Ualbany.
Ana Londergan, a former PH.D. student under Kaloyeros, is also listed as a plaintiff in the case along with Gelest, a Philadelphia-area tech firm that Kaloyeros partnered with on the cobalt invention and others. Londergan now works
then under the Hudson River to the city.
Also in the running is Avangrid, a Spanish-based company that owns several U.S. utilities including New York State Electric and Gas. They are looking to use state Department of Transportation rights of way for a buried line running downstate. They stress that their line won’t go in the Hudson, which has sparked concerns among some environmentalists.
“Avangrid Networks’ Excelsior Connect underground clean energy superhighway will bring needed wind and solar power generated in upstate New York to New York City, while respecting communities and protecting the Hudson River by largely following existing rights of way,” said Sebastian Libonatti, the company’s vice president for business development.
Other proposals have talked about bringing in power from other states as well.
Either way, this transmission line aims to solve a longstanding energy dilemma in New York state. Most of the clean power including nuclear, hydroelectric or newly developed solar and wind — is generated upstate where it isn’t needed.
Downstate, with its population density, needs the power. Much of that currently comes from dirty, older gas plants. Due to the 2019 Climate Action and Community Protection Act, the state aims to get 70 percent of its power from green or carbon-free sources.
Because of that, a line is needed to carry this green power from upstate to downstate.
The concept of using Canadian hydropower has been mentioned several times by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The electricity generated at a series of Canadian dams is clean and the hydroelectric plants are up and running.
On the other hand, New York state power producers as well as labor unions believe the power should be produced in the state in order to create jobs and boost the upstate economy.
The Rise project points to that as a plus on their side since they want to move power from across the upstate region, once the solar and wind plants are built.
These projects are being bid under NYSERDA’S Tier 4, which is the rate and regulatory category for relatively new renewable energy sources.