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infringement posts

Vizio sues Funai for patent infringement, seeks to stop TV imports

by Richard Lawler posted May 20th 2009 at 9:34PM Breaking News


In the latest episode of this ongoing saga Vizio (now feeling its oats enough to claim the "Number One Shipper of Flat Panel HDTVs in the USA" title) is again suing Funai for patent infringement and seeking an injunction barring Funai from importing and selling its HDTVs. Just in case that wasn't etherous enough, Vizio cofounder Laynie Newsome chimed in with a line to make Funai's soul burn slow, pointing out that unlike some companies, Vizio's patent portfolio has not been rejected by the USPTO. We don't know how realistic it is that shipments of Funai's Sylvania, Philips, Magnavox and other branded products could be stalled by the action -- note Funai's so far ineffective action on Vizio's products -- but hopefully this latest strike brings things closer to a resolution and more cheap televisions for all.

Sharp slaps Samsung with LCD patent infringement lawsuit

by Darren Murph posted Aug 7th 2007 at 11:27AM


As if the cutthroat price wars in the LCD space weren't demanding enough, Samsung is now being forced to attend to a lawsuit that Sharp just filed over LCD patent infringement. Reportedly, Sharp is seeking "compensation as well as the prohibition of sales of products that it alleges infringe five of its LCD patents, including one that relates to technology used to enhance display quality." The products in question include Samsung televisions and monitors as well as mobile handsets that feature Samsung's LCD modules. Unsurprisingly, Samsung refused to comment on pending litigation, but a Sharp spokeswoman went so far as to say that it had "been in talks with Samsung, but it appeared difficult to solve the matter through negotiations," which apparently led to a lawsuit being filed. So much for talking things out, eh?

Hitachi sues LG over plasma patent infringement, tries to halt US sales

by Darren Murph posted Apr 24th 2007 at 1:09PM


Just when Hitachi had us all believing that it was planning on reaching new heights in the plasma market thanks to a ginormous PDP set and a thirsty overseas crowd, now we're seeing the fallback plan. Of course, we can't really suggest that Hitachi's latest lawsuit on LG's (surprise, surprise) plasma displays have anything to do with the firm's dreary numbers, but it has nevertheless filed a lawsuit in the ill famed "district court in Texas" (read: patent troll heaven) saying that "the South Korean company infringed its plasma display-related patents." The suit seeks the obligatory "monetary compensation for damages," but more interesting is the tidbit that requests a "permanent injunction prohibiting LG's plasma display panel product sales in the United States." According to a Hitachi spokesperson, the two outfits had "been in talks regarding the appropriate licenses for these seven patents," but apparently, neither side is backing down anytime soon.

Gemstar sues Moxi over guide

by Erik Hanson posted Oct 16th 2006 at 12:24PM

Gemstar vs MoxiGemstar-TV Guide has filed a federal patent infringement lawsuit against Diego's Moxi program guide, alleging that their TV listings are too similar to their own. Of course, Moxi has also filed an antitrust lawsuit against Gemstar. As usual, Gemstar wanted Moxi to license the program guide tech from them, and when Moxi refused, lawyers entered the picture, echoing TiVO v. Echostar on the lawsuit front. Because Charter is one of the major cable providers using Moxi technology, they are included in the lawsuit -- although surely not just to get some bigger bucks out of any potential settlement. We'll keep you updated on the lawsuit as we know more.

Pioneer suing Samsung over...well, you know the drill by now

by Evan Blass posted Sep 25th 2006 at 11:55AM


We'd like to take a moment to extend a hearty congratulations to consumer electronics stalwart Pioneer upon its very first entry into the ugly world of patent litigation. The Japanese manufacturer is suing Korea's Samsung Electronics and Samsung SDI -- no stranger to IP lawsuits, as it's also embroiled in disputes with Panasonic and Fujitsu -- for infringement of proprietary technology related to the production of plasma displays. Specifically, Pioneer claims that Samsung is violating patents pertaining to electrode configuration boosting display quality and a manufacturing step that increases display brightness -- pretty serious stuff, we know. For its part, Samsung says that it's planning to file a counter-suit, although this one may be just for posturing, as the company has apparently been in talks with Pioneer since April of last year concerning possible licensing agreements. Reuters points out that this move is the latest in a trend of aggressive intellectual property protection on the part of Japanese firms regarding potential infringement by their Asian rivals, with Panasonic and LG having recently settled a similar PDP-based brouhaha. We'll keep you posted on this one as it slowly winds its way through the courts, but at the very least it seems that investors aren't too concerned with Samsung's culpability here: Pioneer shares gained 0.72% on the news, while Samsung stock actually rose even more, by a total of 2.77%.




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