Nippon Steel Corp. headquarters is seen in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on June 18, 2021. (Mainichi/Ryotaro Ikawa)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Nippon Steel Corp. said Thursday it has filed lawsuits against Toyota Motor Corp. and Chinese steelmaker Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. alleging infringement of a patent related to a key steel product for electric vehicles.

       The steelmaker said it is seeking damages of 20 billion yen ($176 million) from each company and has also asked the Tokyo District Court for an injunction prohibiting Toyota from manufacturing and selling in Japan electric vehicles made with non-oriented electrical steel sheets suspected of violating its patent.

       Japan's largest steelmaker did not disclose the details of its injunction request such as target brands and the number of vehicles to be covered.

       Nippon Steel said in a statement that it had discussed the matter with the two companies but failed to reach a resolution, leading it to take legal action to "protect its intellectual property rights."

       The company claims the major Chinese steelmaker has violated its patent related to components used in making non-oriented electrical steel sheets.

       It is quite rare in Japan for industry leaders engaged in mutual business transactions to be involved in a legal battle.

       Toyota said in response to the suit, "It is extremely regrettable to have a lawsuit filed against us, as we understand this matter should be discussed between material manufacturers."

       The Japanese automaker said it had confirmed there was no patent violation with the material manufacturer before signing a contract for the non-oriented electrical steel sheets, apparently referring to Baoshan.

       Font Size S M L Print Timeline 0