Toyota Loses Hybrid Patent Case

The world's biggest seller of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, Toyota Motor Corp., lost an appeals court bid to overturn a $4.23 million jury verdict over patents for their drive trains.

A U.S. appeals court upheld part of Paice LLC's lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corp. for patent infringement yesterday but told the lower court to reconsider damages of $25 (U.S.) per infringing car sold.

The District Court in the Eastern District of Texas had disagreed with Paice on two of the patents but found that Toyota did infringe one. It awarded Paice $25 for each Prius II, Toyota Highlander or Lexus RX400H sold.

Paice, based in McLean, Virginia, sued Toyota in 2004, claiming infringement of three patents. The Toyota City, Japan- based company won on two of the patents in the December 2005 trial and lost on a third, for use of a microprocessor to accept torque information from both the internal combustion engine and electric motor.
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EL34 - 10/19/2007 1:23:21 PM

0 Boost

Toyota did not invent hybrid technology.

So stop saying you did, Toyota.

Agent009 - 10/19/2007 3:25:40 PM

+3 Boost

Hybrid vehicles were produced beginning as early as 1899 by Lohner-Porsche. Early hybrids could be charged from an external source before operation. However, the term "plug-in hybrid" has come to mean a hybrid vehicle that can be charged from a standard electrical wall socket.

EnnNorak - 10/20/2007 10:45:33 AM

-5 Boost

Who cares? Hybrids are a dying breed anyway. For the economy-minded, diesels will rule in the short term and hydrogen in the future. Once we get cheap solar and nuclear energy, we can get plenty of hydrogen from electrolysis of water and we will not need to burn any more fossil fuels. Hydrogen can be used directly in hydrogen burning engines or in electric vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

I can see the viability of plug-in hybrids (in the medium term) but only for strictly urban use and only if cheap electricity rates are made available for recharging vehicles during off-peak hours.

Will_ - 10/20/2007 9:12:17 PM

+3 Boost

Toyota has never said they invented the technology. Uninformed people simply infer that due to their success in simply implementing and using the technology.

Porschinator - 10/19/2007 4:52:00 PM

+6 Boost

^^^ Very True... Toyota was smart enough to actually use the technology in todays vehicles in mass production successfully.

SevorbeupstryIsBack - 10/20/2007 2:48:09 PM

+2 Boost

Exactly. In the end Toyota is the big winner here. No matter who invented the damn technology.

Will_ - 10/20/2007 9:10:58 PM

+2 Boost

Precisely.

DieselRules - 10/20/2007 2:15:45 AM

-2 Boost

if the EPA ever starts applying standards to limit a vehicles environmental damage from production, then kiss the Toyota hybrids good-bye (along with Honda, and most others).
Driving a hybrid to save the planet is like wearing a fur-coat to a PETA rally. Its a practical device provided that you ignore how it was made.

autopro - 10/20/2007 2:46:17 PM

+2 Boost

I want a diesel hybrid that's the future.

DieselRules - 11/4/2007 1:51:19 AM

0 Boost

huu, you are SO clueless
Diesel and crude oil are almost the same thing.
Oil must be processed to create gasoline.
And it must be shipped TO the facility (refinery) and then shipped back to markets.
Shipping is done economically (by diesel powered vehicles)

And creating gasoline involves burning crude (diesel) to create the heat for cracking the heavier oil to produce the synthetic fuel called gas.

This takes extremely expensive equipment ... guess which company has spent the most to convert oil into gas ... you guessed it, the USA, with trillions of dollars in refineries!

Who pays for the refineries? Gas buyers, assuming that gas is priced appropriately (at about 2x to 3x the cost of diesel).

Why does diesel cost more? Because the gas companies are scared sh**less that smart Americans will switch to economical diesel vehicles, saving both the planet and their wallets at the same time.
There is only 1 thing to slow the demise of gas-powered vehicles, and that is artificially high diesel prices.

What has saved the consumer is the risk of massive class-action law-suits against the oil-companies for price-fixing on diesel.

The other thing is huge FUD compaigns against diesel.
However, they have generally failed as most Americans are too smart to fall for their BS.
Unfortunately, huu76 doesn't fall into that category........