Nikkei Slips; Toyota Faces Prius Suit

Chandrasekhar Atreya
20 Jul, 2010
New York City

The benchmark index in Tokyo fell more than 1% on the weakness in the U.S. housing market. Toyota faces a patent suit in the U.S. for its hybrid car engine technology. Nissan resumes production at two plants in the U.S. Fast-Retailing and Toray sign a five-year agreement.

[R]5:00 PM Tokyo, Japan – The benchmark index in Tokyo fell more than 1% on the weakness in the U.S. housing market. Toyota faces a patent suit in the U.S. for its hybrid car engine technology. Nissan resumes production at two plants in the U.S. Fast-Retailing and Toray sign a five-year agreement.[/R]

Stocks in Japan traded lower after Monday’s closure and sentiment weakened after the U.S. home builder confidence dropped to a new low.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 1.15% or 107.90 to close at 9,300.46 in Tokyo. The broader Topix lost 1% to close at 832.26 with about two stocks falling for each that gained.

Alex Severinsky has filed a suit with the U.S. International Trade Commission that Toyota Motor Corp have stolen his patent and developed their hybrid cars for sale in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Alex a Soviet, fled to the U.S. in 1978 with his wife and $800 began his career developing antitank warfare instrumentation and then patented his idea to develop high-voltage system to power gas-electric hybrid cars in 1994.

The success of Toyota’s best selling hybrid Prius may stall if the hearing that starts today on the suit decides in favor of the Soviet immigrant. Toyota’s filed in its defense that the vehicles are the results of its own research and is seeking dismissal of the case by the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Nissan Motor Co has resumes production at two of its plants in the U.S. as previously planned, said Steve Parrett, a spokesman at the company’s manufacturing unit by phone today.

Plants in Japan resumed production yesterday.

Honda Motor Co plans to sell a plug-in hybrid car in Japan and the U.S. by 2012, said CEO Takanobu Ito in Saitama, Japan today. The company also is planning to introduce a new compact diesel engine in Europe by 2012, he said.

Fast-Retailing Co and Toray Industries Inc signed a five-year agreement under which Toray will supply fiber and other products to the clothing chain retailer. The contract value is expected to reach 400 billion yen in the contract period 2011-2015, the companies said in a release. The contract value for the period 2006 to 2010 was 240 billion yen.

Gunze Ltd plans to sell 22-inch touch screen panels on which users can enlarge or reduce images with two fingers by the end of this year, according to the Nikkei newspaper.

Nokia Siemens Networks, the world’s second-largest maker of wireless phone systems, said it will pay $1.2 billion for the wireless network assets from Motorola Inc to expand in North America and Japan.

The joint venture of Nokia Oyj and Siemens AG will gain more than 50 customer relationships, according to a joint statement today. Nokia Siemens said it would gain about 7,500 employees in the deal, which is expected to close by the year-end.