Save
Print
The tantalum ore market continues to heat up because of limited supply of “clean,” i.e. non-conflict, material, but litigation in the tantalum industry also is gaining steam. “Nearly every company in the tantalum industry is suing someone for patent infringement,” said a source.
Last week, H. C. Starck filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Ningxia Nonferrous Metals Import and Export Corp. in the US. Starck said that Ningxia had violated its patent for highly capacitive tantalum powders and sintered anodes that are manufactured from the powders.
While patent infringement lawsuits against Chinese manufacturers rarely are successful in China, Starck may have a better chance of winning its case within the US, sources said. Still, said one analyst, for many years, the US Patent Office issued very broad patents that would not pass muster today. Starck said it filed its first patents for technology metals over 60 years ago. It holds nearly 900 issued patents worldwide as well as an equal number of pending patent applications. “Starck’s announcement is clearly to alert the Chinese and other Asian powder producers that it plans to guard its patents and its customer base,” said an analyst.
“However, it is not so easy to prove patent infringement because you have to document the intellectual property trail, the particle size, morphology, etc.” One technical research company representative said, “There are so many patents in tantalum. We don’t touch anything that isn’t totally new technology.”
A patent infringement case dating back to 2008 still has not been settled even though both of the companies involved, Cabot Supermetals and Niotan, have new owners. Cabot, which was purchased by Global Advanced Metals (GAM) in late 2011, sued Niotan, which was bought by Kemet Electronics and renamed Kemet Blue Powder in February 2012.
Cabot claims that former employees who went to work for Niotan broke confidentiality agreements and shared proprietary information that Niotan used to produce powders. A Kemet insider confirmed that the company had inherited the case when it bought Niotan. “Most of these patent lawsuits really are about keeping customers,” said an analyst.
Ironically, Cabot and Starck have never sued each other for patent infringement despite both companies holding multiple patents for capacitor powers. The reason, market sources said, is that several years ago the two companies entered into a cross licensing arrangement. “Basically it is a duopoly between Starck and Cabot (now GAM), and Ningxia is a third wheel,” a source noted. Despite the legal activity, the tantalum capacitor market has been quite flat, according to a producer source. He has seen little movement in spot tantalum ore prices.
Other capacitor producers, however, reported that they are being quoted prices as high at $135 per lb of Ta2O5. A trader quoted Rwandan ore at $120-125 per lb. Brazilian ore, he said, might obtain a slight premium. He expects prices to exceed $150 in the long term.
Copyright © 2013 Ferro-Alloys.Com. All Rights Reserved. Without permission, any unit and individual shall not copy or reprint!
- [Editor:editor]
Daily News
Research
Magazine
Company Database
Customized Database
Conferences
Advertisement
Trade
Online inquiry
Contact
Tell Us What You Think