Nippon Carbon Co. Ltd has sued Nucor Corp. for alleged infringement of a Nippon patent related to metal refining.
In papers filed earlier this week in U.S. District Court in Delaware, Tokyo-based Nippon alleged that Nucor's steelmaking process infringed upon Nippon's 1990 patent for a "method of melting and/or refining metals and a cooling device for the graphite electrode used."
The electrode, a ceramic-molded column of graphite, is a critical component in steelmaking. In July, Nippon was one of eight companies fined by the European Commission for conspiring to fix the price of graphite electrodes.
The lawsuit says Nippon first warned Nucor of its alleged infringement in October 1999, but that the alleged infringement continued "with full knowledge ... of (Nippon's) patent rights and without a license," court papers say.
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