Toyota, Honda sued for patent infringements by U.S. firm

My next car will be another Toyota too.

@sven asai, please read and understand what the difference is between a holding company and operating company is and what a patent holding company is. They own the IP behind the patent. Here is a good description.

https://legalvision.com.au/what-is-an-ip-holding-company/

Such a standalone business model of only making big money out of hunting for patents or licenses lawsuits should quickly be prohibited or extremely taxed. It hinders very much innovation or innovative efforts in the real production businesses and in all leading economies generally. We all cannot afford such torpedoing of technology development and possible employment, sales and income for many people and countries so much longer because of such those few obstacle companies.

Given that WiFi was invented at the CSIRO Radio Physics Lab in Australia, I don't see how a US company could hold the actual patent..

The patents in question regarded implementing Wifi inside a moving car. That is a separate technology probably a lot different than obtaining a Wifi signal through your router from a local ISP. There were other technologies covered by additional patents included in the lawsuit that involve mobile communications.

It's too bad that great minds, such as the former CTO of MSFT, have chosen to make money not by contributing positive to the market but instead only thru focusing on such 'negative' legal actions. I visited them in Bellevue many years ago when they first started up and was excited to see/imagine what this incredibly gifted bunch of folks would do. I wish they could have applied their smarts to cyber crime or AI.

How much technology was stolen from Japan?

By USA, China and S. Korea?

This is why we should have sued as well.

Given that WiFi was invented at the CSIRO Radio Physics Lab in Australia, I don't see how a US company could hold the actual patent...

I did a quick query on the uspto full text database using "wifi"

It returned 140150 hits

Given that WiFi was invented at the CSIRO Radio Physics Lab in Australia, I don't see how a US company could hold the actual patent...

Any patent on the wheel would have expired a long time ago, lol.

Impressive =)

The Eastern District of Texas is a favorite venue for patent trolls because the judges tend to favor extremely fast case timetables.

Impossible. Japan is the Innovation centre of the world.

Toyota has given away 24,000 patients

That's nice if it's true but it still does not grant Toyota the authority to appropriate another patent holders intellectual property.

buyer with heart and sense for value will buy Toyota.

And as soon as the warranty and any service plan has expired that same buyer, if they are smart, will unload that Toyota as quickly as possible. DIY maintenance is pure misery and, not unexpectedly, shops charge huge amounts of money to service or repair them. No more Toyotas in our family. Lesson learned.

I'm surprised they didn't include use of wheels in the patent infringement lawsuit

US design patents expire after 14 or 15 years depending on what the patent is for and how the patent is filed, after which anyone may use the idea. Any patent on the wheel would have expired a long time ago, lol.

bet they don't dare to sue other countries. They only targeted Toyota and Hondo because these are respectable and famous companies that would definitely pay the compensation.

Please go back and re-read the article. The patent management company also sued GM.

buyer with heart and sense for value will buy Toyota.

Won't be buying Toyota and Honda anyway. They're just whitegoods on wheels

I have been happy with my Toyota cars for the last 16 years.

Good maintenance, good service done.

Never had any issue.

Toyota is not world first by chance

Good to see other posters know about patent trolls.

The company on the attack here doesn't make anything. It simply registered lots of "using a computer to do something" patents using the US PTO's lax guidelines for software patents, something (algorithms) which traditionally could not be patented. These patents will have been registered without reducing the invention to practice, i.e., actually making it.

Hmm, they are attacking japanese firms.

The US is lashing against the world.

Hey it's nothing like that.

It's extortion but it's not the US and the company doesn't discriminate.

Here's one case:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/43m-awarded-to-intellectual-ventures-i-llc-in-patent-infringement-trial-300799151.html

Hmm, they are attacking japanese firms.

The US is lashing against the world.

Yep, a big patent troll company. But they can't do anything in Japan because if you win your case in court, you are only awarded an amount that compensates for lost sales, and trolls don't produce or sell anything. So the trolls don't come to Japan.

Toyota has given away 24,000 patients. "The 23,740 patents relate to numerous areas surrounding hybrid vehicles and electrification, including electric motors, power control units and system controls. Toyota says these systems can be applied to the development of conventional hybrids, as well as plug-ins, full EVs and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles."

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/toyota/106501/toyota-gives-away-24000-patents-to-help-other-companies-develop-hybrids

As @Ian has mentioned . Intellectual Ventures, which was founded by a former executive of Microsoft Corp, is believed to possess over 70,000 patents, using patent fees as its main source of income.

I will be cheering for Toyota and Honda in this one.

What kind of nonsense is it to not allow other car companies to use communication tech like wi-fi. 

It's not a car company, it's a patent troll company.

I'm surprised they didn't include use of wheels in the patent infringement lawsuit

Won't be buying Toyota and Honda anyway. They're just whitegoods on wheels.

They are basically scare of sharing the market. What kind of nonsense is it to not allow other car companies to use communication tech like wi-fi. I bet they don't dare to sue other countries. They only targeted Toyota and Hondo because these are respectable and famous companies that would definitely pay the compensation.