Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), the nation’s largest LCD panel maker, yesterday said it had filed a patent lawsuit against Sony Corp, accusing the Japanese consumer electronics giant of illegally using its patents to make panels used in a wide range of products, including LCD TVs.
The Taiwanese company’s move came after Sony filed a complaint at a US district court in March, asserting that Chimei and Hong-Kong-listed LCD monitor maker TPV Technology Ltd (冠捷) infringed its patents when making TVs and monitors.
Chimei has requested that the Western District Court of Arkansas halt US sales of Sony products that infringe on Chimei’s patents, including its Bravia-series LCD TVs, Cybershot digital cameras and digital photo frames, according to a company statement released yesterday.
DAMAGE CLAIMS
Chimei requested an unspecified claim for damages from Sony and also filed a similar patent infringement lawsuit with the Beijing Intermediate People’s Court, the statement said.
“We are committed to protecting our valuable intellectual property, our industry partners and, most importantly, our customers,” Chimei Innolux’s general counsel and vice president Peterson Tien (田正人) said yesterday. “After our recent three-way merger, our intellectual properties portfolio has strengthened substantially and has become more diversified.”
Chimei Innolux Corp was formed in March through the merger of Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), Innolux Display Corp (群創光電) and TPO Display Co (統寶光電).
Sony yesterday offered no immediate comment on Chimei’s legal move.
“We’re confirming the facts and can’t comment any further at this point,” Bloomberg Newswires quoted Tokyo-based Sony spokesman Atsuo Omagari as saying.
AUO
Separately, AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation’s No. 2 flat-panel maker, yesterday said sales last month edged down 0.4 percent to NT$43.6 billion (US$1.35 billion) as prices dropped at a slower pace.
The panel maker accumulated revenues of NT$128.57 billion in the second quarter, up 15.3 percent from NT$111.56 billion in the first quarter, according to a company statement.
Shipments of PC and TV panels grew 8.8 percent to 29.62 million units from the previous quarter, slightly below the company’s forecast of a 10 percent quarter-on-quarter increase.
AU Optronics vice president Paul Peng (彭雙浪) said last month that improving demand in recent months bode well for business in the second half of this year.
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
RSS