2006

Tokai Rika Files Patent Infringement Suit against Ashimori
Industry Co., Ltd. for Seatbelt Pretensioner

Aichi, Japan, February 27, 2006 - Tokai Rika Co., Ltd. ("Tokai Rika") today announced that it has filed a patent infringement suit in the Tokyo District Court against Ashimori Industry Co., Ltd. ("Ashimori Industry") under a patent held by Tokai Rika. Tokai Rika is seeking an injunction against Ashimori Industry's manufacture and sales of its seatbelt pretensioner devices and claiming for damages against Ashimori Industry, under the patent .

The patent in question relates to a pretensioner for seatbelt webbing retractors. An application for the patent was filed on February 9, 1999, and the patent was granted on February 6, 2004 under Japanese Patent No. 3519302. The patent has brought about cost reduction by reducing the number of parts and simplifying the assembly process and prevention of the generation of noise during driving under regular conditions. Under the arrangement of the patent holder, Tokai Rika, numerous discussions have been held with Ashimori Industry since 2004, but those discussions have unfortunately failed to bring about a result desired by Tokai Rika. Tokai Rika has determined that continuing discussions with Ashimori Industry under existing conditions are unlikely to resolve the issue, forcing it to take this final step.

Since beginning research and development into pretensioners for webbing retractors in 1977, Tokai Rika has developed many fundamental technologies and obtained patents throughout the world for many of these technologies. Tokai Rika regards patents and other forms of intellectual property as a vital managerial resource. In addition to respecting the rights of other intellectual property holders, Tokai Rika reserves the right to properly enforce its own intellectual property rights in the event that they are infringed.