Termination of litigation concerning electrical steel sheets

Nippon Steel Corporation (Nippon Steel) has decided to drop its lawsuits over electrical steel sheet patents against Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) brought in 2021, resulting in these cases being closed.

Toyota had been the target of three patent infringement lawsuits by Nippon Steel, alleging patent infringement related to electrical steel sheets used in electric vehicle motors and manufactured by Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. For the next two years, the court heard arguments over the possibility of patent rights being infringed, but today, November 2, Japan Steel began waiving all claims related to the three lawsuits.

A “waiver of claim” is a termination of the litigation initiated by the plaintiff and has the same effect as a final judgment. This closes the lawsuits between Nippon Steel and Toyota regarding electrical steel sheets.

Target Claims

1st

Date of filing
October 14, 2021
Lawsuit number
Reiwa 3rd year (Wa) No. 26587
Patents subject to litigation
5447167

2nd

Date of filing
December 10, 2021
Lawsuit number
Reiwa 3rd year (Wa) No. 32009
Patents subject to litigation
4023183

3rd

Date of filing
December 27, 2021
Lawsuit number
Reiwa 3rd year (Wa) No. 33757
Patents subject to litigation
6497176

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