hybrid cars – the value of patent strategies in innovation
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Hybrid cars – the value of patent strategies in innovation
Mike Lloyd and Justin Blows, Griffith Hack
Contents
• Why study hybrid car patents• Evolution of hybrid cars and hybrid car patents, and the dominance
of Toyota• How to get around Toyota 1) – Lead user innovation• How to get around Toyota 2) – Use of alternative technologies• Use of Network Patent Analytics to rank patents and patent
portfolios• Summary of lessons learnt
Background to study
• Griffith Hack wishes to show how patents support the development of clean and sustainable technologies (‘clean technologies’)
• Hybrid cars are an excellent example of a commercially successful clean technology, with good patent data available
• Summary details of all worldwide patents in which ‘hybrid’ and ‘car’ were found within two words of each other within the patent specification were downloaded from Thompson Innovation
• Patent data was extensively analysed to show the relationship between patent filing and clean tech innovation
What is a hybrid car?
• Hybrid cars tend to feature:– A combination of petrol and electrical energy sources– Electrical energy partially collected during braking
• Now in production in Melbourne • Hybrid cars are available or announced from Toyota, Honda, BMW, Audi,
General Motors, Ford, Nissan……and even Porsche
2010 Porsche petrol/electric hybrid
1899 Porsche (designed) petrol/electric hybrid
1906 Pieper patent for petrol electric hybrid car
US patent 913,846
1969 General Motors (GM) experimental hybrid
1997 Toyota Prius/electric hybrid
• Only about 60 made, due to their high price and marginal fuel consumption improvement
Toyota start filing hybrid car patents in 1994
Culmative Toyota hybrid car patent families, 1980-2007
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
1990 1995 2000 2005
Priority year
Cu
lma
tiv
e t
ota
l o
f p
ate
nt
ca
r fa
mil
ies
1994 – Toyota publiclycommits to doubling
fuel efficiency
1997 – First Toyota Priusreleased in Japan
2000 – Toyota Priusreleased in US
2008 – Total sales of Toyota hybrids exceed
1.7 million
Toyota rapidly built up a patent lead over other car companies
Culmative hybrid car patent families, 1990-2000
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007
Priority year
Cu
mla
tive
to
tal
of
pat
ent
car
fam
ilie
s
Toyota
Nissan
Other Japanese carcompaniesHonda
US car companies
European carcompanies
Toyota have filed 43% of known hybrid car patent families filed by car companies
Known hybrid patent families filed by car companies
43%
15%
9%
11%
8%
7%
6%
1%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Toyota
Nissan
Honda
Other Japanese car companies
All US car companies
All European car companies
Korea - Hyundai and Kia
Chinese car companies
Percentage of known hybrid car patents filed by car companies
Car company patent filings have been supported by supplier filings
Known hybrid car families filed annually
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
Non-Japanese car companies
Non-Japanese suppliers
Japanese suppliers
Japanese car companies
Toyota dominates hybrid car sales
US hybrid vehicle sales 2007-2008
Toyota/Lexus77%
Ford7%
Honda10%
Nissan3%
GM3%
Source: Hybrid cars.com
Toyota’s early filing lead has led to a self reinforcing patent/sales ramp up
Toyota hybrid patent family filings and vehicle sales
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
Pat
ent
fam
ily f
ilin
gs
(pri
ori
ty
year
)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Wo
rld
wid
e h
ybri
d c
ar s
ale
s,
tho
usa
nd
Family patent filings Hybrid car sales
Toyota’s patent strategy has been deliberate
“The first-generation Prius held more than 300 patents on its hybrid technology. The second-generation Prius claimed 370 patents. Since then, the Prius nameplate has had more than 2000 patent applications filed across the world, with the third-generation Prius filing 1000 on its own”
Bob Carter, Toyota US Division Group Vice President and General Manager, 2009
How to get around Toyota?1) Lead user innovation in plug in hybrids
• “affordable plug-in hybrids are a decade away”, – Toyota, 2006, see http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/508.html
“Lead user innovation” in practice..
Which in turn is leading to more patents..
How to get around Toyota? 2) Consider alternative technologies
Captures and reusesenergy from braking
BMW, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Ford, GM, Mercedes, Audi……
Electric motors in hybrid car can power car alone
Toyota, (Nissan, Ford and Mazda under licence from Toyota), GM in 2010
Electric motors assist conventional motor
Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Ford…..
Plug in recharging
of batteries Third party suppliers to Toyota hybrid customers, GM in 2010, Toyota in 2011
Pure electric (non hybrid) – no conventional motor
Mitsubishi, Renault, Tesla
Available from:
But which patents are the best? Using Network Patent Analytics to rank patents and portfolios
Patent citations
Citations in turn lead to other citations..
US 54870691996
US 56129481997
US 56129481997
US 56129481997
And 65 other patents..
US 46792271984
US 46303141986
US 36050191971
US 48887671989
US 50955351992
US 51955761993
US 5283780,1994
US xxxx199x
US 56129481997
US 56129481997
Other citations
US 56129481997
US 56129481997
Other citations
And so on, until we end up with a network of citations (this schematic shows a network of the most central 5500 patents in the hybrid car study)
This network in turn can be used to determine the most important patents…
Most central patents: Hybrid car patent study
An alternative patent network structure – stem cell patents
Top ranked hybrid car patents
Rank Patent number Priority year
Patent summary description Patent owner Citing patents
Cited patents
1 US 6,209,672 1999 Combination of regenerative braking and conventional car engine
Paice Corporation 114 174
2 US 5,343,970 1992 Electric motor shares drive with petrol motor
Paice Corporation 256 37
3 US 5,806,617 1995 Managing conventional motor in hybrid to optimise motor efficiency
Equos Research 103 18
4 US 6,338,391 1999 Hybrid car with turbocharger Paice Corporation 30 185
5 US 4,351,405 1978 Hybrid car with electric and petrol engine
Hybricon Incorporated
142 15
6 US 5,428,274 1991 Drive control apparatus of series hybrid vehicle
Toyota 33 23
7 US 6,554,088 1998 Only runs petrol engine when high torque needed
Paice Corporation 49 216
• Paice Corporation was established in 1992 to develop hybrid drivetrains, i.e. before Toyota moved into hybrids.
• Toyota has been held to infringe Paice’s 1992 US patent 5,343,970, the second ranked patent in our list of hybrid car patents.
• Litigation between Paice and Toyota is continuing.
Just who are Paice Corporation?
Top ranked hybrid car patent applicants
Rank Assignee Relative importance index*
Number of patents in data set
1 Toyota 100 3635
2 Honda 71 1435
3 Nissan 62 1644
4 Ford 60 809
5 General Motors 23 428
6 Peugeot-Citroen 22 255
7 Hitachi 21 393
8 Volkswagen 20 127
9 Paice Corporation 18 28
10 Renault 16 209
* Top ranked applicant = 100
Lessons from IP strategies in hybrid car innovation
• Hybrid cars have been around for over a century, but without major commercial success until recently.
• This changed when Toyota chose to invest heavily in both drivetrain development and patents, leading to dominance in both patents and sales, and patent licenses to competitors.
• Strategies to deal with Toyota’s patent suite include:– Patent licensing (Ford, Nissan, Mazda)– Alternative hybrid drivetrains (BMW, GM, Honda)– Plug in conversions (A123 Systems and others)– Pure electric cars (Mitsubishi, Nissan, Tesla)
• This data suggests that the patent system has encouraged technology investment by both Toyota and its competitors.
• Hybrid car patents can be ranked in importance using Network Patent Analysis. This shows the success of the early patents filed by US drive train developer Paice Corporation.
Optimum innovation and IP strategies may depend on your current technology and IP position
Primary: direct suppliers of primary products or services
Secondary: suppliers to direct suppliers or consumers of products or services
Ahead of leading technologies
Behind leading technologies
Position in relation to leading technologies
Degree of industry engagement
File early and file often
Toyota
File broad patents ahead of big players
Paice
-Carefully review infringement risks-Try to push technology into new directions- Acquire or license from technology leaders
GM, Ford…
-Develop product improvements not supplied by main players, but sought by lead users-Understand infringement risks
Suppliers of hybrid plug-in kits
Acknowledgements
• George Mokdsi from Griffith Hack for the patent search• The results in this presentation was based on patent data retrieved from the
core patent collections available through Thomson Innovation which is provided by Thomson Reuters.
• Doris Spielthenner of Optimice for analysing the patent data using Network Patent Analytics