As we have seen in other industries, as competition emerges and the industry matures, IP owners will begin to assert their rights if they feel there is diminishment of their commercial enterprise. We have seen GE assert their rights against many other turbine OEMs on variable speed technology, and even go to court with Mitsubishi in a suit which could have profound implications on future assertion within the industry. AMSC also recently made public the theft of trade secrets by one of their customers.

This begs an important question: Will the turbine OEMs, who have accumulated over 4100 US patents and applications on all aspects of wind turbine technology, begin to seek targets other than their OEM competition for licensing revenue in a US market which is increasingly cost competitive?