Print

Mail

wiki links

Suit filed against Teco unit

Sharp Corp, Japan's largest maker of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, filed a suit against the Japanese unit of Teco Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機), saying LCD panels used by Teco infringe on its patents.

The suit filed on Monday with the Tokyo District Court requests the Japanese unit of Teco, a maker of consumer electronics and industrial motors, halt sales in Japan of its televisions with 20-inch LCD panels, Yukiyasu Uno, a Sharp spokesman said.

The Teco TV model uses flat panels made by AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the world's third largest maker of flat-panel displays for computers and TVs.

AU Optronics was not included in the suit because it does not have a Japanese unit.

But in a statement issued late yesterday, the Taiwanese LCD maker said regretted that Sharp used the ongoing patent lawsuits with AU Optronics to hamper the operation of its client, Teco.

Sharp filed a lawsuit against AU Optronics two years ago in both Japan and the US over the patent infringement on LCD panels.

AU Optronics claimed the lawsuits will not affect its operations and shipments, the statement said. The company still hopes to settle the intellectual property disputes through legal procedures, it added.

Sharp also filed a request to the Tokyo Customs Office to halt imports of the LCD TV models to Japan, Uno said.

By August, the company plans to almost double output of LCD TVs made at its plant in Kameyama in Mie Prefecture.

According to Kyodo News, Teco sells its LCD televisions in Japan for less than half the price of the products of many Japanese manufacturers.

A 20-inch LCD television made by a Japanese company costs about ?130,000 (US$1,200), the Sharp spokesman said.

Sales of LCD televisions in Japan doubled to 1.5 million in the year ending to March, he said.

Aeon Co, Japan's largest retailer, said in a statement it will halt sales of Sharp products at its stores, without naming specific items. Aeon has since last year sold Teco's 20-inch LCD televisions, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported earlier.

Sharp has damaged Aeon's brand image by its action, the retailer said in the statement.

Japanese flat panel makers such as Sharp and Fujitsu Ltd want to protect patents and technology as the market for the products expands. Fujitsu earlier this week settled a patent dispute with Samsung SDI Co, dropping flat panel-related lawsuits in Japan and the US after two months of talks.

with additional reporting by Lisa Wang
This story has been viewed 3247 times.