Hitachi Metals, Ltd. has filed a formal complaint with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) against 29 manufacturers and importers of sintered rare earth magnets and products containing sintered rare earth magnets. Hitachi Metals seeks exclusion orders from the ITC prohibiting the entry into the United States of unlicensed, infringing sintered rare earth magnets and products containing those magnets and cease and desist orders prohibiting certain activity within the United States.
Hitachi Metals owns over 600 patents worldwide relating to sintered rare earth magnets, including over 100 patents in the United States alone. This significant patent portfolio contains patents essential for the safe, efficient, commercial manufacture of sintered rare earth magnets. Notwithstanding the broad scope of this patent portfolio, it has come to the attention of Hitachi Metals that a number of unlicensed magnet manufacturers have been importing, selling for importation, and/or selling after importation into the United States infringing sintered rare earth magnets and products containing those magnets.
