Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have filed a lawsuit against Ford alleging that the automaker stole their technology to develop EcoBoost engines which are used in several Ford vehicles including F-Series trucks.
The lawsuit follows a split between MIT and Ford which had been collaborating for years on “powertrain, fuel and energy technologies,” according to autonews.com.
Three MIT professors, Leslie Bromberg, Daniel R. Cohn and John B. Heywood filed suit last week in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware and are seeking compensation for their patented dual port and direct-injection technology which they contend Ford used without permission.
The three men are suing under the name of a company they founded called Ethanol Boosting Systems. A search of the company’s name online produced several articles and patents related to various powertrain and fuel technologies.
