Alex Severinsky vs. Toyota Prius at the ITC

On July 18, 2010, BusinessWeek ran a Bloomberg story titled Toyota Prius Success Runs Into Soviet Emigrant’s Patent Claim about the saga of Severinsky fighting Toyota, which included the text:

Severinsky, 65, has spent years trying to get the automaker to pay royalties, and a hearing [at the ITC before ITC Judge Theodore R. Essex ] that starts today may lead to the U.S. blocking imports of the Prius.

Of history in the matter, the greenpatentblog noted:

Back in 2005, Paice sued Toyota in the Eastern District of Texas alleging that the second generation Prius, the Highlander and the Lexus RX400h sport utility vehicle infringed U.S. Patent Nos. 5,343,970 (’970 Patent), 6,209,672 and 6,554,088.

In December of 2005, a jury found that the accused vehicles did not literally infringe Paice’s patents but did infringe two claims of the ‘970 Patent under the doctrine of equivalents. The jury awarded about $4.3 million in past damages.

The greenpatentblog includes a copy of the complaint by Paice/Severinsky at the ITC. Paice is located in Bonita Springs, Florida, adjacent to Naples.
Although Paice did not get an injunction in ED Texas, Paice could get an injunction at the ITC.

See also
An inventor’s patent claims threaten to pull the plug on Toyota’s hybrid business in the U.S