Tools of the Trade: A recent story by Courthouse News Service described a series of patent infringement lawsuits filed by Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp and associated companies (TTi, Metco Battery Technologies, and others) against “power tool heavy-hitters like Snap-On Inc. and Hilti Inc. for using multi-cell lithium ion batteries in their products.” Hilti and Snap-On are significant companies, but not the first that come to mind when one thinks of major players in the cordless power tool category. Wanting to know more, I tracked down the court filings and found out which companies Milwaukee is suing.
2 comments:
I have seen many tool brands use Li-Ion batteries in their cordless products and am now confused as to how a company like Milwaukee could possibly have a patent that general that could cause this kind of infringement. From what the article says, even the other larger tool companies have this technology and Milwaukee settled it out of court with them. This ownership of Li-Ion seems a little aggressive and I am interested to see how it plays out in further cordless tool production.
Milwaukee may be the first power tool company to take advantage of “multicell lithium ion battery packs” but they can’t be the first company in general to utilize them. Is whatever company that first developed and applied lithium technology upset that Milwaukee is using it?
LiIon tools and devices are everywhere. I don’t understand how one company can try to take hold of the technology. That would be like saying that any drill that has a high output LED in it is infringing on another company that had it first. Even that sounds like a more plausible legal argument.
As for the 20amp barrier, this likely applies to the ceiling the previous Nickel-Cadmium batteries of similar voltage were able to achieve. Milwaukee is understandably upset about this number in particular, and they were likely the first company to break through that barrier without significantly increasing voltage. This is an understandable and I think defensible achievement, but the use of LiIon cells entirely should not be the IP of the company.
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