Posts Tagged ‘new invention’

Hyundai Motor Wins Reversal of $34 Million Patent Verdict

Posted on: May 18th, 2010 by Paralegal

Hyundai Motor Co. won its appeal of a $34 million verdict that said South Korea’s largest automaker infringed a Texas company’s patent for computerizing the sale of car parts. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit yesterday said Orion IP LLC’s patent was invalid and vacated the verdict stating that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict. Orion, a patent-licensing firm based in Longview, Texas, had sued 20 automakers, claiming infringement of a patent for a way to help a salesperson select auto parts without relying on catalogs or order forms.  The other auto companies settled before trial.  Hyundai argued that companies other than Orion had come up with the idea of electric parts catalogs in 1987, and the patented computer-assisted system a year later wasn’t different enough to be considered a new invention.