Nissan, Renault Talks Drag On Over Patent Dispute

Negotiations to rebuild the partnership between Nissan Motor and its French partner Renault are now expected to extend into next year after the two sides missed yet another deadline due to intellectual property concerns.

Nissan and Renault had even reserved a site in London for a formal announcement on Wednesday, hoping to finalise and disclose a new deal early this month.

However, "many specifics remain unclear," according to a Nissan executive this month.

There are no other large gatherings scheduled for the rest of the year, especially with Christmas and New Year's approaching.

It is unclear when the two sides hope to reach an agreement, yet both claim to share the same broad objectives.

The manufacturers had intended to announce a deal in November, when Renault CEO Luca de Meo and senior officials visited Japan in the hopes of reaching an agreement.

One of the most contentious issues has been intellectual property.

Regardless of whether firm started the process, Nissan and Renault normally share ownership of intellectual property generated with equal funding from both parties.

According to Renault's security filings, they have received around 1,770 joint patents during the last five years.

Renault intends to share such intellectual property with partners outside the automotive industry.

Qualcomm, a US semiconductor company, will invest in Renault's new electric car subsidiary as part of the company's new growth strategy, which was revealed in November.

Renault and Google will also collaborate on software-defined vehicles.

Nissan is concerned that allowing access to cutting-edge technologies, such as those associated with EVs and advanced driver-assistance systems, would result in leaks.

Sharing intellectual property with third-party partners entails lending them engineers and other relevant professionals.

Nissan executives are concerned that this will increase the company's costs.

"We can't make a judgement because Renault hasn't disclosed the features of the EV unit," one stated.

Meanwhile, Nissan's top aim is to reduce Renault's ownership of the company from 43% to 15%, to match Nissan's investment in Renault.

Nissan is entitled to appoint one more person to its board of directors than Renault under the current Restated Collaboration Master Agreement, which specifies the decades-long alliance.

Furthermore, Renault cannot make shareholder motions without Nissan's approval, implying that Renault's existing ownership has little impact on Nissan's day-to-day operations.