ABB is known as a pioneer and world leader in high voltage gas insulated switchgear. One of its advanced designs features extreme compactness allowing minimum space for installation. The Court's order precludes Hyundai from selling certain switchgear products with the special compact design features covered by ABB's '179 patent, ordering that Hyundai "shall not manufacture, use, sell, or offer for sale in the United States and/or import into United States any switchgear products having the same or not colorably different isolators" as the accused isolators. The Court's Order included Hyundai's Type 145 SP-1, Type 170SR, and Type 72.5 High-Voltage Gas-Insulated Switchgear products that include isolator designs shown in diagrams attached to the Order.
ABB brought the infringement action against Hyundai in the U.S. court in October 2012 after ABB's attempts to solve the case amicably were unsuccessful.
"Innovation is at the heart of ABB's success," said Giandomenico Rivetti, Head of ABB's Business Unit Power Products High Voltage (PPHV), in response to the Court's Order. "This Order should send a message that ABB will not stand by as others try to profit off of our patented developments."
High voltage switchgear such as those at issue in this action facilitate switching, control and protection of power networks across voltage levels of 50 kV to 1200 kV. ABB, a world-leader in power systems equipment development and manufacturing, devotes more than $1 billion to research and development activities each year. ABB maintains seven corporate research centers, employs 8,000 scientists and supports 70 university collaborations around the world. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 145,000 people.
The case is styled ABB Technology Ltd. and ABB, Inc.v. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., Case No. 6:12-cv-1610-RBD-TBD.
