Toyota sued over Hybrid Technology

[daishi48]

There is a patent infringement case against Toyota's Hybrids.

http://www.autoserviceworld.com/issues/ISA...&issue=01112006

[avant1963]

How great would that be if that was true.

Though if it was true, Toyota has enough money to make sure that the case either never makes it to court or if it did, could have a team of laywers that could overtake small countries.

Fun to read about though.

[Newbiewar]

How great would that be if that was true.

Though if it was true, Toyota has enough money to make sure that the case either never makes it to court or if it did, could have a team of laywers that could overtake small countries.

Fun to read about though.

not necessarily... if it has hit the news enough for us to see it... it's worth a tremendous amount of money...

bad PR is worth billions... i mean Toyota has the money, but is the guy willing to settle?

[Guest gmrebirth]

Old news. And I find it funny that nobody heard of this company and their great patents and "innovations" before this lawsuit.

If they indeed hold certain patents to hybrid technology like they claim, why isn't this company partnering with domestic automakers, or why is there no media spotlight on them? I'll tell you why ... probably because their lawsuit is phony, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them trying to abuse the patent system to get money out of Toyota.

Edited January 13, 2006 by gmrebirth

[nyscene911]

Old news. And I find it funny that nobody heard of this company and their great patents and "innovations" before this lawsuit. 

If they indeed hold certain patents to hybrid technology like they claim, why isn't this company partnering with domestic automakers, or why is there no media spotlight on them? I'll tell you why ... probably because their lawsuit is phony, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them trying to abuse the patent system to get money out of Toyota.

Party pooper.

It'd be great though, to see this guy have Toyota not be able to sell Priuses anymore over here, or make Toyo pay him a good amount of money per prius, eating into its sales I can dream, can't I?

[FAPTurbo]

If they indeed hold certain patents to hybrid technology like they claim, why isn't this company partnering with domestic automakers, or why is there no media spotlight on them? I'll tell you why ... probably because their lawsuit is phony, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them trying to abuse the patent system to get money out of Toyota.

I dunno. Chances are that GM wanted their own Hybrid system that would compete with Toyota instead of copying Toyota's "Synergy" system.

As for the media spotlight, well, look at the media today and their portrayal of foreign vehicles, especially Toyota. Case in point, the Prius suffers the software error in its vehicles and at the same time, GM's Envoy and Trailblazer SUV's have a latch problem. Both are recalled. I don't know about you guys in the States but in Vancouver (Canada) the story that made the news was the GM recall, and yet there was no mention of the Prius. Instead, a couple days later, a news report on the same station extolled the virtues of the Prius, with it's high fuel economy, blah blah blah.

After all, the media usually just tells the public what they want to hear. And the general perception is still that American vehicles suck.

I hope this small company wins. Although I don't want to see the Prius stop being sold in North America, I do want Toyota to be knocked down a few pegs so it would get off its high horse, and stop acting like the company is God's gift to humanity. Hell, their ad's (at least up here) don't even focus on the vehicles anymore, but instead saying if you're smart, you'll buy a Toyota. I guess they think that if you're a dumbass, you'll buy a Domestic.

[CARBIZ]

True or not, it doesn't matter. MITI would block any visa applications for their lawyers when they want to go to Japan for discovery. And an army of lawyers to tie it up in U.S. courts until somebody else comes up with a hydrogen powered hovercar that Toyota can copy.

[prinzSD]

Old news. And I find it funny that nobody heard of this company and their great patents and "innovations" before this lawsuit. 

If they indeed hold certain patents to hybrid technology like they claim, why isn't this company partnering with domestic automakers, or why is there no media spotlight on them? I'll tell you why ... probably because their lawsuit is phony, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them trying to abuse the patent system to get money out of Toyota.

This will be interesting to follow considering I do AUTOCAD drawings for a patent firm out here in San Jose.

[jrockb4]

Maybe they can get an injunction like the compay did against RIM for the Blackberry!!! Wouldn't that be a kick in the head. I would want the full R&D costs plus a couple of grand per vehicle lol.

[Sixty8panther]

We don;t need no water let the motherf**er burn!

I'd love to be the guy to twist the proverbial knife into Toyota's ribs.... but true or not I'm sure they'll somehow have the media on their side again.

[Newbiewar]

We don;t need no water let the motherf**er burn!

I'd love to be the guy to twist the proverbial knife into Toyota's ribs.... but true or not I'm sure they'll somehow have the media on their side again.

how would the media help... the media loves to dig up dirt... this is obviously dirt...

things like this are the reason GM and Ford are where they are now...

Edited January 14, 2006 by Newbiewar

[cmattson]

Patent lawsuits are getting ridiculous. People dream up a not-to-far out concept and sit on it until something vaguely familiar comes along to file a lawsuit. Take the idea of dual-fob transmitters. You know: you & your wife each have a car.. who wants to carry around two transmitters. It'd be nice to have a "car1/car2" type of switch on it.. but guess what? Somebody is sitting on a patent for it -- just waiting to cash in.. which is keeping a simple, beneficial idea from ever reaching the market.

Can I put a patent on breathing air? You f*ckers will be mine! BWAHAHAHA! My lawyer can beat up your lawyer..

[Paolino]

how would the media help... the media loves to dig up dirt... this is obviously dirt...

things like this are the reason GM and Ford are where they are now...

Then maybe this is Yota's turn?

[Sixty8panther]

Lst time I checked thousands of peolpe had sludge problems with thier Toyotas back a few years ago and it got about 0.2 seconds in the news... then it was time to spend 2 minutes takkling about GM's recall of 300,000 cavaliers (insert crappy file photo here) and make a big deal over a slightly malfunctioning HVAC comtrol.

The importsget favor wiht the Media and Detroit ususaly gets the shaft. I hope they prove me wrong but I highty DOUBT it.

Where's FoG at?

[Guest gmrebirth]

Patent lawsuits are getting ridiculous.  People dream up a not-to-far out concept and sit on it until something vaguely familiar comes along to file a lawsuit.  Take the idea of dual-fob transmitters.  You know: you & your wife each have a car.. who wants to carry around two transmitters.  It'd be nice to have a "car1/car2" type of switch on it.. but guess what?  Somebody is sitting on a patent for it -- just waiting to cash in.. which is keeping a simple, beneficial idea from ever reaching the market.

Can I put a patent on breathing air?  You f*ckers will be mine!  BWAHAHAHA!  My lawyer can beat up your lawyer..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly. Just like some corporations out there are actually trying to patent certain genes in humans ... can you believe it?

Or how Intel tried to patent the number "486".

The truth in this debacle is probably that this small company's technology merely has a vague resemblance to Toyota's technology, but like many other companies, they are just jumping on the patent lawsuit bandwagon.

[SoCalCTS]

Old news. And I find it funny that nobody heard of this company and their great patents and "innovations" before this lawsuit. 

If they indeed hold certain patents to hybrid technology like they claim, why isn't this company partnering with domestic automakers, or why is there no media spotlight on them? I'll tell you why ... probably because their lawsuit is phony, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them trying to abuse the patent system to get money out of Toyota.

Who has ever heard of the patent holders of most inventions?!? I mean seriously, who is to say that this company hasn't been working with other companies for years trying to get this technology off the ground. Just because you invent something, it doesn't mean that you have the means to bring it to market.

[prinzSD]

Who has ever heard of the patent holders of most inventions?!? I mean seriously, who  is to say that this company hasn't been working with other companies for years trying to get this technology off the ground. Just because you invent something, it doesn't mean that you have the means to bring it to market.

I agree, of the amny patent I have drawn aside from the silicon tech ones, very few have gone to market. Many of the mom and pop patents just sit around.

[Newbiewar]

Exactly. Just like some corporations out there are actually trying to patent certain genes in humans ... can you believe it?

Or how Intel tried to patent the number "486".

The truth in this debacle is probably that this small company's technology merely has a vague resemblance to Toyota's technology, but like many other companies, they are just jumping on the patent lawsuit bandwagon.

nono... they didnt try to patent it... they tried to copyright it... so that AMD couldn't call theres 486... all in all the court said you cant copyright a number...

thus they went to pentium...

accually being quite foolish cause what comes after pentium? sextium...

Edited January 17, 2006 by Newbiewar