Antonov is pleased to announce that it will incur minimal costs in defending the challenge to the validity of its hybrid patent by Toyota. Toyota has filed a validity challenge with the Japanese Patent Office. The European version of this patent is currently under review within the German Patent Court system with a judgement expected in August.

Antonov´s Japanese lawyers estimate that the professional fees for defending the case in Japan to its initial conclusion will be less than 3 million Japanese Yen (EUR 20,000).

Antonov believes that its patent has been infringed by Toyota´s second generation Prius vehicle and other vehicles that use this driveline system. It is also of the view that that Toyota´s counter suit in Japan, a few months before the German Courts´ decision, indicates a lack of confidence by the Japanese car manufacturer in the outcome in Europe.

Antonov is in the process of filing a response to Toyota´s suit, and once Antonov´s written reply has been passed to Toyota each party will have two months to prepare a further submission in advance of the Oral Proceeding, expected to be held around September 2006.

Following the Oral Proceeding, each party may submit a further petition for consideration. The initial decision on the case would normally be received 4-5 months later. This decision is subject to appeal to the High Court.

Chief Executive, John Moore, commented:

" We are confident in the strength of our case but also very prudent in terms of managing our costs. We initiated proceedings against Toyota in Germany as the most cost effective route to a legally binding solution. I am pleased therefore that our Japanese legal costs are also well within budget. We would welcome an approach from Toyota to settle this infringement but they must be made aware that we will not allow our patents, in which we have made significant investments, to be infringed. I will update shareholders with further news in due course" .


For more information, please contact:

Antonov plc
John Moore, Chief Executive
+44 (0)1223 421 740

Dawnay, Day Corporate Finance Limited
Rod Venables
+44 (0)20 7509 4570

Biddicks
Shane Dolan
+44 (0)20 7448 1000


Pdf version press release
hugin.info/132838/R/1046935/171987.pdf




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