New Delhi, Sept. 2 (PTI): TVS Motor Company today dismissed Bajaj Auto’s claim of infringing its patent technology and threatened to take legal action against the company for “tarnishing” the name of the TVS group.

“TVS Motor Company has advised its lawyers to put Bajaj Auto on notice that unless the allegations are withdrawn and regrets expressed, a Rs 250-crore suit will be filed against it,” a TVS statement said.

The reaction came a day after Bajaj Auto accused TVS of infringing its intellectual property rights by using its digital twin spark ignition (DTSi) technology on its new 125cc bike called Flame.

TVS said it was “surprised at the wild and irresponsible allegations” made by Bajaj Auto. “The accusation is an attempt to tarnish the fair name of a corporate that belongs to the TVS group,” the statement said.

TVS said besides seeking damages, it might also take criminal action against officials of Bajaj Auto who used libellous language against it.

“That the allegation of Bajaj Auto is ridiculous can be established by its own admission that the application of twin-spark plug is a known technology extensively used all over the world for several decades and therefore, in patent law, it is a known prior art,” it said.

Earlier, Bajaj Auto claimed that the DTSi technology was registered in July 2002 under patent number 195904. It said it used the technology on all its motorcycle models such as the Pulsar and the Discover and planned to deploy it on its forthcoming bike called the Exceed.

Normal four-stroke motorcycle engines use a single spark plug at one end of the combustion chamber. This results in slow combustion as the spark takes some time to reach the other side of the combustion chamber.

Bajaj Auto’s DTSi technology uses two spark plugs at the two ends of the chamber.