Paice is a

hybrid technology A hybrid vehicle is one that uses two or more distinct types of power, such as submarines that use diesel when surfaced and batteries when submerged. Other means to store energy include pressurized fluid in hydraulic hybrids. The basic princip ...

company headquartered in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. The company develops transitory

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

for gas-driven and electricity-driven vehicles.

Company

Paice was founded by

Alexei Severinsky Alexei "Alex" Severinsky is an American engineer immigrated from post-Soviet Russia. He graduated with Master of Science degree from the Kharkiv National University of Radioelectronics in 1967 and got his Candidate of Science degree (Ph.D.) in Elec ...

, a Russian emigrant, in 1992. Paice originally developed early hybrid-electric powertrain concepts for passenger vehicles. In recent years, Paice LLC has been controlled by the Abell Foundation and has focused on patent litigation. Paice has sued

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

, Ford, and most recently

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...

for allegedly infringing on its patents.

Field of Operation

Paice develops

hybrid vehicle drivetrain Hybrid vehicle drivetrains transmit power to the driving wheels for hybrid vehicles. A hybrid vehicle has multiple forms of motive power. Hybrids come in many configurations. For example, a hybrid may receive its energy by burning gasoline, but s ...

s used in the automotive industry. Hybrid technology developed by Paice are applied in various vehicles such as the

Toyota Prius The is a car built by Toyota which has a Hybrid vehicle drivetrain, hybrid drivetrain, combining an internal combustion engine with an electric motor. Initially offered as a four-door Sedan (automobile), sedan, it has been produced only as ...

Ford C-MAX The Ford C-Max (stylized as Ford C-MAX and previously called the Ford Focus C-Max) is a car produced by the Ford Motor Company from 2003 to 2019. It has a five-door compact multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) design. The Ford Grand C-Max has a longer wh ...

, and Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid. Besides development marketing, the company also focuses on defending its patents.

Patents

Paice holds about 29 patents that are related to

s. Core patents are: * Paice US patent 6.209.672, ''Hybrid car with two electric motors, one connected to engine, and one connected to car wheels'', 1998. * Paice US-Patent 5.343.970, ''Improved hybrid electric vehicle where both engine and electric motor power the car, and energy is captured via regenerative braking'', 1992. * Paice US patent 6.338.391'', Electric motor coupled to turbocharged motor, and control system'', 1999.

Patent Conflicts

The company has patent conflicts with

because of its Hyundai Sonata Hybrid, and

Kia Kia Corporation, commonly known as Kia (, ; formerly known as Kyungsung Precision Industry and Kia Motors Corporation), is a South Korean multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It is South Korea's second lar ...

, because of its Kia Optima hybrid car. Millions of dollars of compensation have been successfully claimed. Similar claims against Ford in 7 of 25 patent appeals by Ford ended up in final decisions by the US patent office USPTAB in favor of Paice. Further decisions are in progress.

Lost Claims

Paice's claims were backed by the Abell Foundation, a

risk capital A capital requirement (also known as regulatory capital, capital adequacy or capital base) is the amount of capital a bank or other financial institution has to have as required by its financial regulator. This is usually expressed as a capital a ...

partner. In 2016 Paice said that VW,

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

, and

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

used Paice patented

infringing Paice's patents. This dispute was settled in early 2017 and the terms of the settlement are confidential.

References

External links

* {{cite web, url=http://www.autonews.com/article/20150211/OEM06/150219973/patent-trolls-target-automakers-and-ford-pushes-back , publisher=Automotive News , title=Patent 'trolls' target automakers, and Ford pushes back , url-access=limited Manufacturing companies based in Baltimore Hybrid electric cars Partial zero-emissions vehicles Hybrid powertrain