Japanese company Nidec - accused Seagate of unauthorized use of electric motors in some models of hard drives. Seagate is required to cease illegal use of Nidec's intellectual property and compensate for damages and other costs.

According to Nidec, which owns 85% of the market for spindle motors for hard drives, the Seagate 2TB BarraCuda ST200LM15 and 16TB IronWolf Pro ST16000NE00 drives violate the applicant's US patents. In particular, these models are equipped with electric motors of the Japanese company MinebeaMitsumi, with which Nidec has a cross-licensing agreement. But Seagate does not participate in this agreement and actually uses Nidec technology without its permission.

Nidec is filing a lawsuit seeking a court order to cease Seagate's illegal use of its intellectual property, ban the sale of named products, indemnify for damages, collect pre- and post-court interest, and reimburse costs and fees.

Nidec motors are one of big reasons of large HDD prices, this guys rip you off and do it silently.