Defendant
1 case as defendant.
ArcelorMittal S.A. is a multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. Founded in 2006 through the merger of Arcelor and Mittal Steel, it is one of the world's largest steel producers. As of 2024, the company had 125,554 employees and reported revenue of $61.4 billion. It is publicly traded on Euronext Amsterdam and the NYSE under the ticker symbol MT. Lakshmi Mittal and his family hold a significant ownership stake.
ArcelorMittal is an integrated steel and mining company involved in the production of steel and mining of iron ore. Its major products include flat and long steel products, pipes, and tubes, which serve diverse industries such as automotive, appliance, engineering, construction, and machinery. The company operates steel-making facilities across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, with mining operations in North America, South America, Africa, and Europe. ArcelorMittal also develops advanced high-strength steels for the automotive industry, focusing on lightweight yet strong materials to reduce CO2 emissions.
ArcelorMittal primarily appears as a defendant in patent litigation. The company has one tracked case, appearing as a defendant in an action before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB): POSCO Co. Ltd. v. ArcelorMittal (2024). This indicates a posture of defending its intellectual property or asserting its freedom to operate against challenges.
The POSCO Co. Ltd. v. ArcelorMittal case at the PTAB involves challenges to patents related to coated steel strips, coated stamped products, and associated manufacturing methods, specifically focusing on a four-layer coating structure formed during a hot-stamping process. This PTAB case has seen parallel proceedings with an ITC investigation, where ArcelorMittal was the complainant, alleging unlawful importation of infringing steel and automotive products. ArcelorMittal has also been active in asserting its patents in other venues, such as the Unified Patent Court (UPC), where it sued XPENG, a Chinese car manufacturer, over a patent concerning coated steel strips. Additionally, ArcelorMittal has successfully defended patents related to coated steel strips at the EPO Boards of Appeal against oppositions from competitors like Tata Steel, Volkswagen, and Thyssenkrupp. However, some of its hot stamping patents have been invalidated in China following challenges from companies like Baosteel and POSCO.
This PTAB inter partes review petition was filed by POSCO Co. Ltd. against ArcelorMittal, challenging US patent 10961602. The petition was ultimately not instituted on procedural grounds.