Doosan Bobcat North America has filed federal and international lawsuits against Caterpillar, Inc., alleging patent infringement for components of skid steers, skid steers, excavators, wheel loaders, track loaders and excavators.
A lawsuit filed in federal court for the Eastern District of Texas that also names Texas’ largest Caterpillar dealer HOLT CAT as a defendant alleges that Caterpillar has infringed on Bobcat patents including: automated hydraulic drive system shifts, issued in 2016; variable motor control speed, released in 2019; tracked utility vehicle, issued in 2019; system and method for defining an operating zone for a lifting arm, published in 2019; and prioritizing hydraulic power, released in March 2021. These allegations are just the surface of South Korea-based Doosan’s 29-page complaint, which dates back to the founding of Bobcat and its original parent company, Melroe Manufacturing Co., in 1947. Doosan Bobcat essentially accuses Caterpillar of adopting competing technology and patents over Bobcat’s products. almost eight decades.
In total, Doosan Bobcat says 14 patents are to be maintained, including those involving Sticksteer, Bobcat’s joystick remote machine control, and E-fence, Bobcat’s geofencing security software. The patents also cover performance and energy efficiency.
The complaint refers to Caterpillar, based in Irving, Texas, as a “late entrant to the skid steer market” and notes that it did not enter the skid steer industry until “around 1999.” It alleges that Caterpillar rips off competitor equipment and reverse-engineers new equipment technology into CAD drawings that differ from the original equipment manufacturer.
Aside from filing in the area where Holt and Caterpillar are located, the Eastern District of Texas has become a go-to court for intellectual property disputes with nearly a quarter of those lawsuits last year filed there.
Bobcat vs Cat
Caterpillar has not yet issued a statement responding to the lawsuit, but it has filed a response to a concurrent complaint that Doosan Bobcat filed with the International Trade Commission, asking the international court to prevent Caterpillar from marketing its allegedly infringing skid steers, compact excavators, loaders, crawler loaders, excavators and components thereof with other countries under the US Intellectual Property Act37.
Bobcat’s X225 compact excavator, the first compact excavator produced in North America in 1989, is one of several patents that Doosan Bobcat alleges Caterpillar, Inc., has infringed. Photo courtesy of Doosan Bobcat“The remedial orders sought by Doosan Bobcat would harm the U.S. public interest, undermine ongoing infrastructure projects, harm the economy in nearly every state, and jeopardize national priorities…. [the court] should reject Doosan Bobcat’s attempt to use Section 337 as a cudgel,” read the response from The caterpillar law firm Kirkland & Ellis.
Doosan Bobcat’s two lawsuits seek damages “adequate to compensate for the infringement,” an accounting and continuing royalty payment for any post-verdict use of the technology, lost earnings, attorneys’ fees and costs.
The federal court complaint filed in Texas states that “Bobcat has suffered and continues to suffer substantial damages,” but no specific dollar amount is disclosed in public filings. Bobcat has sought a permanent injunction preventing Caterpillar from manufacturing, using, selling or importing any product that infringes the patents it claims are being infringed.
It’s not the first time a cat has been challenged with patents
Doosan Bobcat’s complaint repeatedly references another recent patent case involving Caterpillar, Wirtgen America Inc. v. Caterpillar Inc. Wirtgen America, a maker of road construction equipment, was acquired by John Deere in 2017. Soon after, it alleged in a lawsuit that Caterpillar’s road milling machines infringed on several patents related to cold milling technology. A federal jury awarded Wirtgen $12.9 million in damages in that case, and Judge Joshua Wolson added nearly $6.5 million more and banned the sale of the infringing machines, so there is precedent for the relief Doosan Bobcat is seeking.
As Doosan Bobcat is doing today, Wirtgen also filed a concurrent complaint with the International Trade Commission under Section 337 of the Tariff Act. The ITC banned imports of infringing Caterpillar road milling machines from 2019 until it allowed imports of redesigned versions in 2021 in this case. Wirtgen and Caterpillar settled the lawsuit in October 2024, but the case showed that both federal courts and the ITC are willing to find infringement in patent disputes involving construction equipment, which led to substantial damages and product redesigns.
What does it mean for contractors?
While core technologies can be patented, key functionality of construction equipment has always been a gray area for OEMs, but the ITC’s involvement opens up the possibility that some Caterpillar models could be pulled from the market until they are redesigned or see a delay in software updates until key features change enough.
In both cases, the patents cover advanced control systems and automation features that drive increasingly common uses such as 2D and 3D machine controls and site geofencing.
Caterpillar is expected to file responses to the complaints in the coming weeks, and the ITC could make an initial determination on whether to open an investigation into Caterpillar early next year.
