Nippon Steel sues Toyota and Baoshan for patent infringement

Japanese steelmaker sues Japanese carmaker Toyota and Chinese Baoshan for patent infringement.

Japan's biggest steelmaker Nippon Steel filed patent infringement lawsuits against Toyota Motor Corp and Baoshan Iron & Steel, a subsidiary of China's state-run China Baowu Steel Group, with a Tokyo district court. Nippon steel accuses both companies of infringing on patents that cover non-oriented electric steel sheets, a specialized steel sheet used in electric vehicle motors.

Nippon Steel is seeking 20 billion yen ($176 million) from each of the companies. The steelmaker also filed a petition for a preliminary injunction before the Tokyo District Court to bar Toyota from manufacturing and selling electric motor-driven vehicles that use the electrical steel sheets allegedly violating its patents.

Nippon Steel's spokesperson said that the electrical steel sheets were indispensable materials for automobile electrification. The spokesperson also said the steel sheets were one of the essential products the steelmakers aimed to be used at helping decarbonization for automobiles, electrical products, and power plants. The fifth-largest steelmaker in the world by output said that it had decided to resort to legal action as it could not resolve through discussions with both companies.

In 2012, Nippon Steel filed a lawsuit against South Korea's Posco, accusing the company of illegally acquiring non-oriented electrical steel sheets production technology. The two companies later settled.