Regarding the Ruling of the U.S. District Court,
Florida Middle District,On Patent Infringement Allegation Filed by MHI

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), filed a suit against General Electric Company (GE) with the U.S. District Court in Florida's Middle District, seeking compensation for damages, etc. for alleged infringement of one of MHI's U.S. patents by GE’s wind turbines. On July 5 (U.S. Eastern Time) a U.S. District Judge issued a summary judgment dismissing MHI's complaint based upon the ground that GE's wind turbines had not infringed on such patent owned by MHI.

    1. Defendant

    Name: General Electric Company (GE)
    Location: Connecticut, U.S.

    2. Background to the Court's ruling
    • May 20, 2010   MHI filed a lawsuit against GE.
    • January 1, 2012   GE filed a motion for summary judgment based upon either non-infringement or invalidity of the MHI's patent.
    • July 5, 2012   The summary judgment was granted on the ground that GE's wind turbine had not infringed a patent owned by MHI.

    3. Overview of the summary judgment*1

    Regarding the contents of MHI's U.S. patent titled "Blade-Pitch-Angle Control Device and Wind Turbine Generator"*2 – U.S. Patent No. 7,452,185, claims should be interpreted based on embodiment described in the patent specification, not by the plane meaning of language in the claim. Under such interpretation, GE has not infringed on the 185 patent.

    4. MHI's view

    MHI believes that the interpretation of the patent claims shown in the summary judgment has too narrowly interpreted the scope covered by the patent. As described in "5. Outlook" below, MHI intends to take the necessary measures to enable its claim to be recognized.

    5. Outlook

    As the plaintiff is able to request a review of the summary judgment in the first instance, MHI intends to continue the process for the first instance of the lawsuit. The company also has an option to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Going forward, it is conceivable that disclosure of some matters may be called for, and in that event we will issue notifications swiftly.

    6. Impact

    There will be no impact from the summary judgment on MHI's consolidated earnings. In the event that disclosure of certain matters is called for in the future, we will issue notification swiftly.

    Notes:

    1 Summary judgment is a judgment to be ordered by the judge without having an official factual inquiry process by jurors. Either plaintiff or defendant can request to have the judgment reviewed.

    2 The patent for the technology to reduce burden on wind turbine by controlling the pitch angle of blades on wind turbines according to wind turbines' blade rotation angle, etc.