Toyota Prius Under Fire For Patent Infringement

tekiegreg writes "According to Auto Service World, Toyota (and possibly other hybrid companies) are guilty of violating a patent with their Prius hybrid Systems. The patent in particular looks like it covers most of how the drive-train and even the braking system of a Toyota Prius functions. The implications of which are big if there is no deal or settlement made (such as ceasing of hybrid vehicles in the United States)."

Comments

Theyre patent is pretty complete

[SkullOne]

Theyre patent is pretty complete, but only filed in 1990.
Unfortunately, I think reclaiming breaking energy with an electric motor was thought of, and used much earlier then that.

Re:Theyre patent is pretty complete

[bojanb]

I've read the patent and from what little I know of Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive from Wikipedia it does seem related.

Regenerative braking is a red herring. What's special about Toyota's HSD on Prius is the drivetrain, and that's exactly what they're talking about in the patent.

The caveat - the patent was filed in 1991, don't patents expire after 14 years?

Limit patent transferability

[scsirob]

Simple solution.. Only the original inventor gets to benefit from having invented something. If the inventor (either private or company) decides to sell it's assets, then any patents become void and the knowledge public domain.

Due Diligence

[hoophead]

My patent law is a little rusty, but doesn't the patent owner have to claim infringement within a reasonable amount of time? How long has the Prius been out - 2 or 3 years? ANd they are just filing a claim now? The upshot is that if I own a patent, I can't just wait for years while it is infringed, and then come in and claim my triple damages based on the other guy's work. I have to challenge within a reasonable amount of time, or else the infringer has "squatter's rights".

This patent doesn't cover Prius' s drive

[Dr. Crash]

Lesson 1: READ THE CLAIMS.

Note that every claim is either a "base claim", that is, that starts a new description, or is a
"subsidiary claim" that depends or extends another claim.

Lesson 2: READ THE BASE CLAIMS TWICE.

The base claims are the patent's "weak spots" - if you can just dodge every base claim, then
the patent doesn't apply to you.

Notice that in this patent every base claim says "electrical" on both power inputs. That's
a major flaw; this patent has no claims that cover the case of only one electrical power
input and one of a totally other kind of power.

Lesson 3: THERE IS NO INFRINGEMENT IF NONE OF THE CLAIMS APPLY.

The Prius driveline doesn't use an electrical motor on BOTH inputs, only on one. Hence it does
not infringe.

Next? :)

Easy way around that: switch to lithium

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a group of companies developing lithium batteries that have created a patent pool. If your company develops technology for lithium batteries, you pay a fee to get into this group and then you can use for free any lithium patent from any company in the group. Of course, they get to use your patents as well, but with so many people looking out for submarine patents and the fact that your competitors signed a technology sharing agreement, the chance of a lawsuit is minimal.

Re:/tin hat

[the_womble]

There is a tactic to deal with this: just before the patent expires, patent necessary but previously unpatented aspects of the invention. You can also patent all the obvious variations of it. The end result is most actual implementations breach a patent, even though the original patent has expired.

Pharmaceutical companies do this sort of thing all the time.

Re:Easy Solution.

[waferhead]

Dr. Ferdinand Porsche designed and BUILT an AWD electric car in ~1908 (or earlier?) with regenerative braking.

I kinda suspect a bit of prior art somewhere.