By all intents and purposes, the claim, as was the one Severinsky made regarding the torque technology used by Toyota on an earlier Prius, is true. Toyota announced today it has reached a confidential agreement with Severinsky's company, through which the Russian will drop all lawsuits against the Japanese manufacturer.
"I am happy that Toyota and Paice came to an amicable resolution on the use of my power-assisted engine invention," Severinsky said in a statement. "We have long believed that hybrid vehicles represent the wave of the future for the auto industry and hope that consumers will continue to embrace hybrid vehicles as a meaningful way to reduce emissions."
Now, the official story goes a bit like this: Toyota agrees some of its vehicles have been found to be equivalent to a Paice patent, while Severinsky agrees Toyota created the Prius, from scratch, “as part of Toyota's long history of innovation.”
The sum of money which made each party agree with the above statements was not disclosed. For the record, the 2005 torque technology dispute ended with Toyota paying $4.27 million to Severinsky.
"After six years of litigation, we are pleased to reach a settlement with Toyota," Frances Keenan, chairman of the Paice board of directors added. "Toyota has been a leader in the hybrid industry - selling more hybrid vehicles than anyone in the world - and we appreciate and applaud their achievements."
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