Comments on: Toyota Holds On Hard to Its Hybrid Head-Start

By: wsn

wsn — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:27:37 +0000

If it’s the Chinese that steals an IP, then the typical response is: I will never buy a Chinese car until they respect IP.

If it’s Toyota that’s holding an IP, then the response is: Toyota is anti-progress by blocking others an easier path.

Very predictable.

By: twotone

twotone — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:21:08 +0000

If they can’t make money selling hybrid cars, they may try to make it from patent litigation or licensing fees.

Twotone

By: Matt51

Matt51 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:35:51 +0000

Mainly, companies file patents on technology they want to produce; not to block others, but to make sure they can sell without being sued.
The Prius may be the car that killed Toyota. The rest of their product line is suffering, as they are over focused on Prius.

By: aunt jemima

aunt jemima — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:02:01 +0000

Patents can be double-edged. Of course it protects their intellectual property but on the downside it can stifle the progression of the innovation as Horner mentioned and it can lead to competitors banding together, developing alternate technologies, widening adoption and spreading the costs.

All Toyota has to do is talk to Sony for some lessons.

By: Areitu

Areitu — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:31:55 +0000

Are these patent filings numbers for filings in Japan or patent filings in the US?

Someone was explaining to me the other day that Japanese patent law requires one to patent every component, as opposed to US patent law which allows you to patent an entire system, and any components within the system are protected.

By: John Horner

John Horner — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:07:54 +0000

In my view, intellectual property protection has the perverse effect of delaying the progress of technology more than it does to promote it.

Typically periods of rapid industrial improvement and expansion happen when and where intellectual property protection is minimal.