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Matsushita files suit against MediaTek over patents

Japanese electronics giant Matsushita Electric Industrial Co said yesterday that it has filed a lawsuit against Taiwan's MediaTek Inc (聯發科技), the world's largest maker of chips for DVD players, claiming that its chips infringe on three of Matsushita's patents.

In the lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Matsushita said it is seeking an undisclosed amount of compensation over MediaTek's alleged unauthorized use of three patents for integrated-circuit chips for use in DVD devices.

Matsushita, one of the world's largest consumer-electronics makers, took the legal action after the two companies' licensing talks failed, the Japanese company said in a statement.

The statement didn't specify when the negotiations were undertaken.

"MediaTek is known as one of the top manufacturers of integrated-circuit chips used for DVDs and CDs, but its unlicensed use of Matsushita's patented technologies could be contributing to MediaTek's price competitiveness," Matsushita spokesman Akira Kuroda said.

"Matsushita has spent an enormous amount of money in research and development for these patents, and licensing fees for them are justified compensation for us," he said.

The Osaka-based maker of Panasonic audio-visual goods is also demanding a court order to suspend US sales of the MediaTek chips in question and DVD devices that use the chips, Matsushita said.

The suit also names OPPO Digital Inc, a California-based digital electronics maker, and another Taiwanese company, Micro-Star International Co (微星科技), whose DVD devices use the MediaTek chips.

MediaTek said in a statement released yesterday that it could not comment on the issue at the moment.

"So far, our understanding of the issue has only come from media coverage ? we will make a public comment on it after we receive any official documents from the court," the statement said.

A public relations official at Micro-Star also said yesterday that the company would not comment on the case before receiving related papers.

Shares of MediaTek were up NT$24 to close at NT$373 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, and shares of Micro-Star International Co gained NT$0.25 to close at NT$25.10.
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