Prius Infringing Copyright

I see you corrected yourself. It's a patent.

Copyrights and patents are very different. For example, Toyota need never have even known about this company, their technology or their patent but they could still be found guilty of patent infringement. If it were a copyright in question and they could prove they'd never heard of it, they would be not guilty. This is an important distinction because most people assume that patent infringement equals theft. It doesn't. Their are many other differences as well.

Basically, the US patent system is royally screwed up. Patents are granted right and left for no good reason, giving companies government-enforced monopolies lasting 20 years (and I think renewable for another 20). In this case, I believe there is evidence that the patented technology (a part of regenerative braking) was already invented by someone else years before the patent was applied for. Doesn't necesarrily make it a slam dunk for Toyota. You never know what a court will do.

 

Not sure SOLM has any choice other than to try to generate revenue from lawsuits since it appears as if they're unable to sell anything:

http://money.cnn.com/quote/financials/fina...&period=quarter