Patent Law

Fully Fueled

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

The hyperactive Obama administration wants efficient cars, hoping to implement fleet fuel economy imperatives that politically ran out of gas forty years ago. The hope for fuel-efficiency lies with hybrids, which cruise on electric power and hit the gas when a driver hits the accelerator. One company has the real impetus: Toyota, which has around 2,100 patents for hybrid vehicles. Number two, Honda, has about half as many hybrid patents in its portfolio. Nissan, relatively hybrid patentless, is puttering with electric cars.

Toyota has a culture of cooperation that has made it the world's leader in automotive technology. Unlike American car makers, which for decades squeezed component suppliers for low cost as integral to their strategy of going broke, Toyota has cross-holdings with its suppliers, constantly encouraging innovation, not mere cost-cutting.

The Toyota way also means that the company has not been litigious, preferring quiet licensing deals. Ford has a cross-license with Toyota for hybrid technology, where, Ford claims, no money changed hands.

More in the Wall Street Journal.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on July 02, 2009 (boomark / email).