Out-Law News 1 min. read
06 Jan 2015, 5:28 pm
The company said the move "reflects the company’s aggressive support for developing a hydrogen-based society" and that it hoped the move would "spur development and introduction of innovative fuel cell technologies around the world".
The patents relate to fuel cell technologies, including fuel cell stacks, high-pressure hydrogen tanks, fuel cell system software control and hydrogen production and supply, the company said.
"This great proposal from Toyota should certainly encourage the further development of fuel cell technology by Toyota’s selected partners as they benefit from the existing innovations protected by Toyota without the fear of patent infringement," intellectual property and advanced manufacturing industry expert Cerys Wyn Davies of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said.
"Potential developers will need to enter licences with Toyota to receive authorisation to use the patented technology. It will be important that the licences clearly state the scope of use and the royalty free period for the specified patents and innovations. It will be interesting to see whether this encourages partners to make their own innovations available for license to others, further opening the scope for fast development," she said.
Toyota said it hopes to agree cross-licensing deals with partners so as to gain royalty-free access to those businesses' "fuel cell-related patents". However, it said it would not insist on this arrangement as part of any agreement for the licensing of its own patents.
Businesses that enter into licensing agreements with Toyota for its patents will be able to use the underlying technology for free until the end of 2020, after which royalties will be payable on all but the 70 patents Toyota is releasing that relate to hydrogen production and supply. Those patents will be accessible on a royalty-free basis for "an unlimited duration", it said.
"The first generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, launched between 2015 and 2020, will be critical, requiring a concerted effort and unconventional collaboration between automakers, government regulators, academia and energy providers," Bob Carter, senior vice president of automotive operations at Toyota Motor Sales in the US, said. "By eliminating traditional corporate boundaries, we can speed the development of new technologies and move into the future of mobility more quickly, effectively and economically."
Toyota launched a new environmentally friendly car model at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this week. The new Toyota Mirai does not require petrol or diesel but instead uses hydrogen and air to create electricity and power the vehicle.