Taiwanese flat-panel TV maker Amtran Technology Co Ltd (瑞軒) said yesterday its affiliate, Vizio Inc, had filed an anti-trust and unfair competition lawsuit against its Japanese rival, Funai Electronics Co, in the US.
The latest legal action by Vizio followed a ruling by the US International Trade Commission’s that invalidated a related patent that Funai had attempted to enforce against Vizio and to review a judge’s prior decision that Vizio had infringed on part of US Patent No. 6,115,074.
Irvine, California-based Vizio alleged that Funai, “acting alone and in concert with others, unlawfully restrained trade and monopolized the market for the licensing of technology used to interpret and retrieve information from a digital television broadcast signal, as well as the market for digital television sets and receivers,” Amtran said, citing Vizio.
Amtran has a 23 percent stake in Vizio and makes flat-screen TVs for the US’s third-largest liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel TV maker.
“The company will safeguard the company’s legal rights and seek any possible means to protect the company’s interest,” Amtran said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Vizio expanded its share of the US LCD market by volume to 12.8 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, up from the third quarter’s 8.4 percent, behind Sony Corp and top-brand Samsung Electronics Co, market researcher DisplaySearch’s latest tallies showed.
Vizio filed the antitrust and unfair competition lawsuit in the US District Court, Central District of California, against Funai and related components, a company statement released earlier this month on its Web site said.
“VIZIO, as America’s HDTV Company, has been instrumental in making high quality flat panel TVs more affordable for Americans. Especially in light of the nation’s digital TV transition, we won’t allow a foreign competitor to divert us from our mission to bring affordable high quality HDTVs to millions of Americans,” Vizio co-founder Laynie Newsome said in a statement.
Amtran jumped 3.2 percent to NT$11.25 yesterday, outperforming the TAIEX’s 0.9 percent rise.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
RSS