Ford is currently being investigated for allegations concerning patent infringement. Paice filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission claiming that car manufacturer had infringed upon the Maryland-based company's hybrid technology.
American car manufacturer faces a complaint due to hybrid technology patent infringement. Hybrid technology firm Paice said that it had provided the American car manufacturer with detailed modeling and part designs back in 1999 all throughout 2004. The car manufacturer, however, decided not to license the technology.
Paice, along with the Abell foundation, now claims that the car manufacturer is using its patents without permission on vehicles such as the Fusion and MKZ hybrid vehicles which is a violation of the 1930Tariff Act. "We trusted Ford," Paice CEO Robert Oswald said. He further added, "Our engineers spent years sharing technical details about our patented hybrid technology with (the company) in good faith - that faith was misplaced."
The hybrid technology firm has requested the International Trade Commission to issue the car manufacturer a limited exclusion order along with cease and desist orders against the electric hybrids Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ. Both vehicles are sold in the United States with production done in Mexico.
The car manufacturer has said that the allegations made by Paice are "unsubstantiated". The company further added that it will "vigorously defend itself" from the hybrid technology firm.
The International Trade Commission has yet to determine if the car manufacturer had indeed violated the 1930 Tariff Act. The agency will be assigning the case to an administrative judge who will eventually make the decision and has said that it "will make a final determination in the investigation at the earliest practicable time."
This is not the first time that both companies had clashed. The former filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the latter back in 2014 which was considered invalid in court. Other companies that Paice file a similar lawsuit against including the VW group, Toyota, Lexus, Kia, and Hyundai all of which were eventually settled according to the company's vice president, Nathaniel Adamson.
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