National Post

TOYOTA SUED OVER PRIUS

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Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s second-largest automaker, is being sued for allegedly infringing a patent on the transmissi­on system used in its Prius and Lexus RX400h gasoline-electric cars. Antonov PLC said yesterday it filed a lawsuit against Toyota in Germany in April and is seeking unspecifie­d royalties for the patent, which it says is infringed by the driveline of the two models. Japan’s Toyota is the world’s largest commercial maker of vehicles powered by so-called hybrid systems, which combine gasoline engines with battery packs. The carmaker said earlier this month that it expects to sell one million of the vehicles every year by 2010, as soaring fuel prices boost demand. Manchester, England-based Antonov, which was founded in 1991 to develop a new type of automatic transmissi­on, claims that Toyota is infringing a European patent it holds. Chief executive John Moore said Antonov has licensed the technology to Toyota competitor Honda Motor Co. and that the company is in settlement discussion­s with Toyota.

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