New round begins in Eaton, ArvinMeritor patent fight

TROY, Mich. (Dec. 17, 2003) — Eaton is once again taking ArvinMeritor to court over transmission design infringement, prompting the latter company to vow a “vigorous defense” against Eaton’s actions to “eliminate a viable competitor from the North American heavy truck transmission market.”

In early December, Eaton filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission charging that ZF Meritor’s clutchless, automatic FreedomLine transmission system and components infringe on various Eaton patents. ZF Meritor is a joint venture of ArvinMeritor and Germany’s ZF Friedrichshafen. The FreedomLine is the U.S. version of ZF Freidrichshafen’s ZF-AS Tronic used in Europe. It competes here with the Eaton Fuller AutoShift and UltraShift automated transmissions.

Eaton asked the ITC to investigate. It also asked the agency to issue orders blocking importation of the FreedomLine into the U.S. and sale of the products in this country. At the same time, Eaton filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Detroit, and asked for a permanent injunction prohibiting the sale of the FreedomLine in the U.S.

Earlier this year, ArvinMeritor won an appeal in the patent infringement suit brought by Eaton Corp. against ZF Meritor’s Engine Synchro Shift· (ESS) transmission system. The Federal Court of Appeals reversed a U.S. District Court ruling two years prior.

The International Trade Commission typically has about a year to investigate complaints but issues an estimated completion within 45 days after receiving a request.