Solomon Completes Infringement Case Against Toyota

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11-15-06 | 05:18 PM

#16

TRDFantasy

Lexus Fanatic

Joined: Jan 2005

Posts: 7,285

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From: A better place

Quote:

Originally Posted by CK6Speed

Legal mumbo jumbo aside, the fact that Toyota used Ferrari software no matter if it was stolen by ex Ferrari employee's that now work for Toyota and admitted in court that they had used the Ferrari software to develope their own is true. Toyota admitted it and refused to return the software with an excuse that they had too much of their own software embedded within the Ferrari software that it would give Ferrari too much of Toyota's information is also fact.

I already stated I find Soloman's claims a little hard to believe, but Toyota isn't exaclty a saint when it comes to cheating in motorsports. Sure, everyone does it, but Toyota has two big black marks against them. One in F1 and the other in WRC.

Also, that is a cheap shot against Honda for taking over BAR. If you knew the Honda/BAR situation back in 2002 you wouldn't really be saying that Honda simply bought a team. It wasn't as simple as that. Everyone knew BAR was Honda. Honda has a much better F1 history including many constructors championships than Toyota does.

So why are you picking on only Toyota here? You yourself admit that others have, and do cheat. Ferrari has had it's fair share of cheating claims, so has BMW, and BAR, and Renault. Why not mention Ferrari's flexible wings, or Renault's mass damper system which was banned?

Let's face it, Toyota is the most profitable automaker on Earth. This means Toyota is one huge target for lawsuits and for scrutiny. Also, because Toyota is bound to overtake GM soon in worldwide sales volume, the scrutiny on the company will only increase. There are a lot of people out there trying to squeeze money out of Toyota, to cash in on Toyota's success, even if it's something frivolous or ridiculous.

Besides, you nor I know the specifics of the Ferrari software controversy. For all we know, Toyota may have only found out about the software's origin *after* integrating their own software into it, which would give Toyota solid reason to refuse to give it back. If that's the case, then it is the ex-Ferrari employees who are completely at fault.

11-15-06 | 05:32 PM

#17

spwolf

Lexus Champion

Joined: Jan 2005

Posts: 19,962

Likes: 176

Quote:

Originally Posted by javyLSU

It wouldn't. Ford is a consumer in this scenario, and the worst case scenario for them would be that they would have to buy the same product from a different "source," be it a rebranded Toyota/Solomon or the same old, same old. ff_ is absolutely right - Toyota if found guilty, would just pony up and pay a licensing fee and keep producing cars while Solomon backs the dump truck up to carry all their cash to the bank.This happens all the time, especially in corporate and contract law. I'll give a common example: Have you ever pled 'not guilty' to a speeding ticket just so you can get a trial date in hopes that the cop doesn't show up? Same concept. Unless the two companies can reach a settlement, then a trial case it is...
Nope - that's the whole idea of patenting an invention. Just because you don't have the capital to produce and market your invention doesn't mean you should lose the idea to someone else who does. Since this patent was filed on 11/28/1990, it falls under the "best of both worlds" clause of patent duration: if the application was filed by June 7, 1995 and issued after June 7, 1978, the term is the later of 17 years from issuance or 20 years from filing. Whew...

For those that are interested, you can click here to view the patent granted to Solomon for their invention.

Javier

that might be fine if you were talking about some small company, but you are talking about most profitable car company, that is publicly traded.

Rest assured that patent claims were throughly reviewed before Toyota decided what to do. Not only that, but many analyists have probably hired firms with patent expertise so they can know what to reccomend to their clients.

Being publicly traded company with one of the best performing stocks around, with buy ratings anywhere is a lot different proposition than someone pleading "not guilty".

11-15-06 | 09:46 PM

#18

javyLSU

2IS OG

iTrader: (21)

Joined: Mar 2006

Posts: 7,888

Likes: 31

From: New Haven, CT

This happens daily... and I mean every single day working day, lawsuits are filed against publicly traded companies for patent infringement - both valid and frivolous. Notable ones include Microsoft vs. Apple, RIM (and now Palm) vs. NTP... I could literally cite thousands of examples, but you get the idea. I agree with you completely that public perception is absolutely a factor in these decisions. Unfortunately, "doing the right thing" more often than not, gives way to management's pursuit of the least expensive way to settle situations like this. And frankly, that's their job as they are obligated to look out for the interests of the shareholders. This really is not a big deal for Toyota.

Javier