ZF Friedrichshafen AG and ArvinMeritor Inc. prevailed in 75 of 76 Eaton claims of patent infringement in the Initial Determination ruling by an International Trade Commission (ITC) administrative law judge. The Initial Determination is a recommendation by the judge to the full commission. The commission will issue a final ruling in the coming months.
"We will review the Initial Determination and pursue all possible means of appeal, and respond to the ruling to ensure that there continues to be a product choice in the North American heavy-duty transmission market," said Wolfgang Vogel, executive vice president, Commercial Vehicle Transmissions, and a member of the management board of ZF Friedrichshafen AG.
Tom Gosnell, president of ArvinMeritor's Commercial Vehicle Systems business group, said, "We are confident, upon appeal, that we will have a different ruling, and that we will prevail in offering truck operators a proven choice of technology.
"Of the 76 claims in six patents asserted by Eaton, the judge found preliminarily that only one claim in one patent was infringed, and that one claim covered minor aspects of the transmission interaction with other systems," Gosnell emphasized.
According to Vernon Baker, ArvinMeritor vice president and general counsel, the commission's ruling can be appealed to the Federal Court of Appeals, if necessary. "There are still plenty of opportunities to be successful on behalf of our customers in this situation," he said.
Since 1997, Eaton has filed three patent actions against ArvinMeritor and ZF, including the present ITC action. ArvinMeritor prevailed on appeal in a patent infringement suit on the innovative ESS transmission, and ArvinMeritor and ZF prevailed against Eaton in a Patent Office action to wrest ownership of ArvinMeritor's torque prediction patent.
Subsequently, in 2004 ArvinMeritor filed a patent infringement lawsuit in North Carolina against Eaton for infringement of its U. S. Patent covering torque prediction. ArvinMeritor believes that this patent is infringed by every Eaton automated manual transmission.