Toyota loses appeal against Prius patent case

Posted Mon May 12 2008 7:41 PM by Viknesh Vijayenthiran

Toyota’s appeal for a case it lost last year against American technology company Paice LLC has been rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, which means the Japanese giant will now have to pay Paice up to $4.3 million in damages. The case involved Toyota using a technology for its petrol-electric Prius hybrid that was originally patented by Paice back in 1992.

The technology involves a microprocessor that accepts torque information from both the internal combustion engine and electric motor, reports Bloomberg. According to Paice, the hybrid market didn’t take off until Toyota revamped its vehicle program using technology that Paice had originally patented long before the launch of the first hybrid in late 1997.

Toyota may also have to pay Paice royalties for future hybrid vehicles it produces using the disputed technology. The appeals court told a trial judge to revisit his order that Toyota pay $25 for every Prius, Highlander and Lexus RX400h sold.

Reader Comments

Mon May 12 2008 9:40 PM
Ayax says

hummm $25 per car, and toyota sells alot of cars.. hehehe.. motherload there at $25 a pop.
Mon May 12 2008 11:18 PM
MyWheelsOnWalls.com says

If memory serves me right were they not also onto Ford and other hybrid manufacturers to pay them (them being Toyota) a royalty fee not to long ago, which now appears to be a design that is not theirs. How does that work?

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