Asian Tech Press (Oct 14) -- Nippon Steel Corp (5401:Tokyo), the world's fifth-largest steelmaker, said Thursday it has filed a lawsuit against Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. and Chinese steel giant Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. (Baosteel) over patent infringement.

The company said it was seeking 20 billion yen ($176.35 million) in damages from each company regarding to its patent related to non-oriented magnetic steel sheets.

As reported by the Japanese national newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun on Thursday, Nippon Steel's non-oriented magnetic steel sheets affect the performance of motors in terms of power consumption and output and are mainly used in the engines of electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid vehicles (HVs), etc.

The Japan-based steel producer also applied to the Tokyo District Court for a provisional injunction to stop the manufacture and sale of Toyota vehicles that use this steel. However, it has not yet disclosed the type of the vehicles that will be subject to the injunction.

Toyota said in response, "Toyota has confirmed with material manufacturers that there is no patent infringement when dealing with them, and has also signed a contract with the manufacturer of magnetic steel sheets in question after confirming with it that there is no infringement of other companies' patents before closing the deal."

"We recognize that this lawsuit is a matter that should be discussed among material manufacturers, and we greatly regret that we are being sued," said the car maker.

(US$1 = 113.4101 yen)