Talks between Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp. on a joint venture to develop fuel cell cars have stalled over sharing state-of-the-art technologies, sources said Saturday.
Toyota and GM are having difficulty coordinating their views on how to share intellectual property rights and handle the results of joint research, the sources said.
This has prevented them from entering into negotiations on the specifics of the proposed joint venture, they said.
Fuel cell technologies are also highly sensitive militarily, and the U.S. government may limit disclosure of such technologies to foreign firms, they added.
GM Chairman Rick Wagoner visited Nagoya in May and talked with then Toyota President Fujio Cho about the possibility of a tieup in environmental technology.
Since then the companies have been considering ways to boost their cooperation in developing environmentally friendly cars, including those powered by fuel cells.
But it is uncertain whether the two firms will be able to strike an early deal due to the stalled talks, the sources said.