Latest news with #Hungary
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Tulip Innovation Obtains Additional Battery Patent Injunction against Sunwoda Group
BUDAPEST, Hungary, July 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On 17 July 2025, Tulip Innovation won another injunction in German litigation concerning battery electrode and separator technology against the China based Sunwoda Group of companies. The decision issued by the Munich District Court's 7th division adds a third injunction against the Sunwoda Group to two previous injunctions in Germany that were awarded to Tulip by the court in separate cases on 22 May 2025. Tulip is the licensing agent for a portfolio of over 5,000 patents owned by LG Energy Solution and Panasonic Energy, and was represented by Hogan Lovells. The most recent decision arose from Tulip's action against Sunwoda Electronic, Sunwoda Mobility Energy Technology and their German affiliates Sunwoda Europe and Sunwoda Electric Vehicle Battery Germany based on the German part of the European Patent EP 2 378 595 B1. The oral hearing took place on 3 July 2025. The decision in favour of Tulip was handed down two weeks after the hearing, on 17 July 2025, granting Tulip the requested injunctive relief against the batteries at issue. Tulip's requests for additional relief were also granted, including obligations for Sunwoda to recall and destroy any remaining batteries in its direct or indirect possession, pay damages to Tulip in principle, and provide detailed accounting information to enable Tulip to calculate its damages claim. The new injunction underscores the strength and breadth of the battery patent portfolio licensed by Tulip, and confirms that battery manufacturers implementing technology covered by the portfolio will face substantial burdens in litigation if they choose to operate without a license. Giustino de Sanctis, CEO of Tulip, noted: "This decision reinforces the value of Tulip's program and demonstrates our commitment to upholding fair and competitive market conditions in the battery industry. Tulip looks forward to discussing broad licenses under the portfolio with all companies active in lithium-ion battery manufacturing." Andreas von Falck, Hogan Lovells Partner, added: "We are very pleased with this confirmation of the strength of Tulip's patent position by the Munich District Court. The patent in this case has a maximum term of 21 December 2029. The decision is well reasoned and we are confident that the decision will stand on appeal." The patent asserted relates to the combination of electrodes and a battery separator, an important element for the safety and performance of a car battery. The batteries at issue in the case are specific models used in the Dacia Spring but the patent is applicable to any battery model to the extent that it makes use of the patented technology. The decision is immediately enforceable against the provision of security but remains subject to appeal by Sunwoda, and Sunwoda has filed a separate nullity action relating to the patent that is pending. Tulip is represented in the proceedings by a Hogan Lovells team including Dr. Andreas von Falck, Dr. Alexander Klicznik, Dr. Roman Würtenberger, Dr. Markus Kuczera, Lea Gröblinghoff, Dr. Michael Plagge and Dr. Yun-Suk Jang. Sunwoda is represented by A&O Shearman. About Tulip Innovation Tulip Innovation Kft. is an independent company founded to establish and manage the lithium-ion battery licensing program. Based in Hungary, the hub of European battery manufacturing, Tulip's mission is to collaborate with companies implementing Li-ion battery technology to ensure that their manufacturing operations have access to Tulip's robust IP portfolio. Led by a team of licensing professionals with decades of experience, Tulip has a unique combination of strong industry connections and expertise in negotiating and administering patent licenses. Additional information is available at Logo - View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Tulip Innovation Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Russia Today
8 hours ago
- Business
- Russia Today
Slovak state gas firm eyes full Russian supply
Slovakia's largest natural gas company is planning to turn to Russia for 100% of its supplies next year, Bloomberg has reported. Company officials cited cost benefits as EU countries face a ban on spot purchases of Russian energy, the outlet said. The EU aims to phase out Russian energy imports by the end of 2027 as part of its RePowerEU strategy. The plan includes a ban on new pipeline and LNG contracts with Moscow, as well as an end to imports under existing spot agreements. However, the scheme has faced pushback from Slovakia and Hungary. Both countries are expected to receive transitional exemptions, enabling them to continue to uphold long-term contracts with Gazprom. The ban, set to take effect in January, could free up additional pipeline capacity for Slovakia's Slovensky plynarensky priemysel (SPP) and Hungary's MVM Magyar Villamos Muvek, the outlet said on Monday. 'Russian gas is the most cost-effective for us, which is why we prioritize it,' Michal Lalik, SPP's trade director, told Bloomberg. 'We could be buying 100% of our needs, that's about 8 million cubic meters per day.' Last week, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Bratislava had accepted guarantees from the European Commission to limit the impact of a halt in Russian gas supplies. As a result, Bratislava lifted its veto on the EU's 18th package of sanctions against Russia. Slovakia has resisted the EU's push to sever energy ties with Russia, warning of severe economic consequences. Fico has condemned the bloc's plan as 'imbecilic,' saying it would undermine Slovakia's energy security and destabilize the wider EU. Slovakia, which still receives Russian gas via TurkStream under a long-term contract with Gazprom through 2034, warns that losing access to cheaper supplies would harm its competitiveness. Without Turkstream, Slovakia would be forced to rely on western supply routes – mainly via Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic – leading to higher transit costs. 'Price disparities within the supposedly unified European energy market will distort competition and severely weaken the position of Slovak companies,' said Roman Karlubik, vice president of the Federation of Employers' Associations.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
BYD to delay production in Hungary
BYD Auto, China's largest automaker, plans to delay the start-up of operations at its plant in Hungary until 2026, according to unconfirmed reports citing sources familiar with the matter. The plant was originally scheduled to start production in the fourth quarter of 2025. The sources also suggested that once operations begin next year, the company will operate the € 4 billion facility, located in Szeged in the south of the country, at significantly below capacity for at least two years. The plant will have an initial production capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year, but only 'a few tens of thousands of vehicles' are expected to be produced in 2026. At the same time, BYD plans to bring forward production at its US$ 1 billion plant in Turkey, where labour costs are significantly lower, and to produce significantly more vehicles than it had previously planned. The facility, under construction in Turkey's Manisa province, was originally scheduled to begin operations at the end of 2026 with an initial production capacity of 150,000 vehicles annually. Production at the Manisa facility is expected to 'far exceed' 150,000 vehicles in 2027, according to the sources, with BYD planning to greatly increase output again in 2028 from these levels. The sharp currency fluctuations recently will also have had a significant influence on the company's decision to prioritise its Turkish operations. The Euro has strengthened by 11% compared with the Chinese yuan (CNY) since the beginning of the year, while the Turkish lira has depreciated by 16% against the CNY. "BYD to delay production in Hungary" was originally created and published by Just Auto, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Times
10 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Times
I Was Ambassador to Hungary. The America I Returned to Alarms Me.
As the most recent U.S. ambassador to Viktor Orban's Hungary, I'm often asked if the Trump administration's tactics and policies feel familiar. The short answer is yes. But the more important — and unsettling — question is this: Does the way Americans are responding feel familiar, too? After years watching Hungary suffocate under the weight of its democratic collapse, I came to understand that the real danger of a strongman isn't his tactics; it's how others, especially those with power, justify their acquiescence. Take the judiciary. I met leaders of Hungary's sole independent judicial body in October 2022 to discuss their work. For months afterward, their faces (and mine) were plastered in the papers, branded as traitors and foreign agents, just because they had raised concerns about the rule of law in Hungary. The response from other powerful judges? Silence. Or take the private sector. Since Mr. Orban became prime minister in 2010, the state has awarded billions in public contracts to his son-in-law and childhood friend, a former plumber named Lorinc Meszaros. What have Hungarian business leaders said? Nothing. Last year, when Mr. Orban's close associates reportedly told a multinational retailer to give the prime minister's family a cut of its business, did other multinational companies speak up? They did not. Hungarians with little power or privilege to lose would occasionally protest. But those with power remained reliably, pliably silent. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Irish Times
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Translated fiction: convincing first-person narration, personal stories through political turmoil, and sharp but subtle humour
In When The Cranes Fly South (Doubleday, 308pp, £14.99), translated from the Swedish by Alice Menzies, the author Lisa Ridzén, a woman in her 30s, inhabits the mind of an 89-year-old man, through a convincingly rendered first-person narration. Thus she demonstrates how wrong it is to advise writers to only draw on their own experience and identity. Details of the daily humiliations wrought by age mix with recollections of his work at sawmills with a cruel father, or his friend Ture, who is also enduring the torments of old age. Such moments of memory are often visited through dreams, which linger briefly in the disconcerting juncture of waking. Bo's wife is in a nursing home and can no longer recognise him or their son, Hans, who provides the main tension of the novel, attempting to assuage his self-doubt by issuing ultimatums about his father's supposed inability to manage his dog, Sixten. Through lucid, observant writing, Ridzén conveys the lack of autonomy allowed to elderly people in a heartfelt novel that gives voice to a sensitively realised old man. In Omerta: A Book of Silences by Andrea Tompa (Seagull Books, 718pp, £22.99), translated from the Hungarian by Bernard Adams, the author creates four separate first-person narrators, to outstanding effect. Kali's tale is told in an accented translation, which is sometimes confusing ('they'd just got two or three 'old an' wouldn't let go of it'), but her voice soon becomes persuasive, especially when indulging her propensity for telling folk tales. READ MORE After a brutal marriage - violence and suicide appear as natural as the wind - she eventually finds work with Vilmo, a rose breeder who is preoccupied with creating blossoms that will rival those produced by the famous Meilland family in France. [ Fiction in translation: The strange workings of myth and history, a work of limpid beauty set in the Bosnian countryside, and more Opens in new window ] Vilmo's narrative voice is very different. Analytical and unemotional, his perspective on fathering a child with Kali solidifies an imbalance of power that also pertains in his relationship with a teenage girl called Annush. However, when we hear her affecting voice, critical judgment is challenged by the temporary escape this illicit affair allows her from a merciless, alcoholic father and the ceaseless work he demands of her. These personal stories are repeatedly impacted by the political turmoil of communist Romania and the 1956 uprising in Hungary. This is especially the case for the fourth narrator, Eleanóra, Annush's sister, who has recently been released from prison for being part of an unofficial convent of nuns. Her contemplative reflections regarding the position she can usefully occupy in a political milieu she barely understands are bolstered by her unwavering beliefs. Through vividly imagined prose, each character's voice emerges distinctly and engagingly, allowing all four to express their perspectives on the uniqueness of their lives within the collectivised society they inhabit. Set in a milieu in which seeking the approval of others is paramount, Cooking In The Wrong Century (Pushkin Press, 172pp, £16.99) by Teresa Präauer, translated from the German by Eleanor Updengraff, deploys sharp but subtle humour to undermine their anxious solipsism. A sense of playfulness is central to a novel in which a couple host three people - all unnamed - for drinks and a meal. The central premise is replayed in several permutations, interspersed with chapters in which the reader is addressed with a familiarity that suggests their complicity in a gathering where every ingredient, gadget and piece of music is a signifier of taste, status and level of sophistication, or lack thereof: 'What Is Culture? ... The book that bore this title had endured four house moves in 20 years and had still never been read. What is culture? Perhaps a short version of the answer could be found in the blurb." Every action is a performance, functioning as potential content for social media posts. The irony is pointed but never overstated, in a witty translation that, despite the satirical intent, also acknowledges the sensuality of food and the ingenuity of jazz. A flood that prevents the guests from leaving hints at the influence of Luis Buñuel's Exterminating Angel, and this brilliantly clever novel shares that film's sense of absurdity. Nothing described in the novel can, with complete certainty, be said to have happened. There is uncertainty too in The Arsonist (Twisted Spoon, 180pp, £11.50) by Egon Hostovský, translated from the Czech by Christopher Morris, regarding the identity of the person setting fire to buildings in a small Bohemian village called Zbečnov. Central to the novel is the family who live above the Silver Pigeon pub, run by the mercurial Josef Simon. 'Here is home, beyond them, the world.' His teenage children, Kamil and Eliška, are suffused with burgeoning desire in search of an object. Eliška spent three years in a convent because of their mother: 'She's always been bad.' But she too is adrift and unhappy. Outside the confines of their home, the suspicion and distrust of outsiders - already a feature of the village - is heightened when buildings begin to go up in flames. But, as always, the truth is more complex and less convenient than the locals would wish. This sense of an outsider threatening a small community, initiated by their collective paranoia, is like a precursor to the novels of László Krasznahorkai. First published in 1935, the novel is beautifully written, with a narrative style that whispers confidences to the reader. The lyricism of Hostovský's superbly translated descriptions is a pleasure to read, capturing both the delight and ennui in village life: 'The rooftops gleam in the sun, two small clouds sail over the church, the sparrows make a commotion on the fence, somnolent warmth, Sunday outfits and tedium.' A Fortunate Man (NYRB, 870pp, $29.95) by Henrik Pontoppidan, translated from the Danish by Paul Larkin, has previously been translated into English as Lucky Per from a novel that was first published in 1905, having appeared in serial form earlier. Using free indirect narration, the novel is ostensibly a birth-to-death narrative about Per Sidenius, born into a family deeply rooted in religious service and sombre conformity. But Per's questioning nature is ill-suited to accepting received doctrines, and his break with his family personifies a journey both outward and inwards, embodying the faltering modernisation of a country and the search for a true self. His personal story, encompassing his far-seeing ambition as an engineer - already envisioning the energy potential of wind and wave power - and indecisiveness in relationships, is at every moment fascinating and unpredictable. But of even greater interest are his discussions about religion, especially those with the ostracised Pastor Fjaltring, and his desperate search for an authentic way of being in the world. Despite its length, the novel never loses focus and includes much elegant, expressive writing, meticulously translated by Donegal-based Larkin, who includes a few phrases that will be familiar to Irish readers: 'the lark in the clear air' appears twice! While the novel inevitably includes the prejudices and assumptions of its time, it also echoes the ever-changing, irresolute, self-questioning and contradictory reflections of Per in a search for the self that leads into the lonely morass that constitutes that self. He is the conscience of a novel that deserves to be considered among the greatest works of world literature.
