Chemours has filed a second R1234yf patent infringement lawsuit in Japan against Japanese refrigerant manufacturer AGC Inc.

The lawsuit alleges infringement of Chemours’ patents covering product compositions of the HFO refrigerant.

Now the current industry standard for the air conditioning systems in new cars, R1234yf has been the subject of a number of court actions since its introduction nearly 10 years ago. Chemours and Honeywell hold most or all of the patents issued for HFO-1234yf, although some of these have been disputed and remain the subject of court actions. Honeywell has also previously taken a number of patent infringement actions against different manufacturers.

Chemours last took action against AGC in November 2019, alleging infringement of Chemours’ patents covering product compositions and usage of R1234yf in automotive air conditioning and stationary refrigeration applications in Japan.

In a statement on the latest action, Chemours said that the action reaffirmed its commitment “to vigorously defend its intellectual property and investment” in its Opteon-brand low GWP refrigerants. It said that this builds on its on-going efforts to stop “the unlicensed manufacture, marketing, and sales” of its R1234yf “by all legal means wherever that activity occurs around the world”.

AGC has so far made no comment on the action.