Korea’s Hyundai-Kia conglomerate has been named in a US lawsuit claiming patent infringement over its hybrid drivetrain product.
The complaint centres on the powertrain technology in hybrid versions of Hyundai's Sonata (pictured) and its sibling-under-the-skin, the Kia Optima. Florida-based Paice LLC claims to have been pursuing the company since 2004. “Paice has contacted Hyundai on numerous occasions and offered to discuss its patented hybrid technology,” the company said in its complaint. Its lawyers are after cash compensation and an order that that any further use of the technology comes with permission.
Toyota and Ford have already settled similar legal claims by Paice. Toyota found itself facing similar claims in 2002, when it was deemed to have infringed Paice chief Alex Severinsky’s 1994 patent on a technology Severinsky called Hyperdrive, for combining the torque output from IC and electric motors in hybrid drivetrains.
At the centre of Paice’s claims is Severinsky’s concept using high voltage and low amperage to combine IC and electric outputs and smooth out the transition back and forth between them. Paice claimed the system Toyota used in Prius and hybrid Lexus and Toyota Highlander models amounted to infringement and requested royalties. A federal jury awarded the company US$4.27 million.
At one point Paice was pushing for the US International Trade Commission (ITC) to bar Prius imports until the case was resolved. The ITC judge didn’t take it that far, but ordered Toyota to pay Paice $25 for every unit in the country. On appeal, this went up to $98, giving rise to a squabble that lasted another five years.
By mid-2010, Paice’s claims had extended to include the third-generation Prius, the hybrid Camry and new Lexus models. On the brink of another hearing, the parties settled, claiming equivalency rather than infringement. “The parties agree that, although certain Toyota vehicles have been found to be equivalent to a Paice patent, Toyota invented, designed and developed the Prius and Toyota’s hybrid technology independent of any inventions of Dr Severinsky and Paice as part of Toyota’s long history of innovation,” both companies said in separate statements.
Financial details remain confidential, but were likely quite generous, given how the $98 per unit award would see Toyota paying Paice about $1.5 million a month on current sales figures.
Around the same time, in mid-2010, Ford quietly agreed to license Paice’s technology in a deal whose financial terms also remain under wraps.
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