Innolux Corp (群創), an LCD panel manufacturing arm of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday said it has filed lawsuits in China against Chinese peer HKC Corp (惠科) over alleged infringement of its LCD manufacturing patents.
It is the first time that Innolux has toughened its stance to safeguard its intellectual property rights and legal protections in China.
Innolux and a growing number of Taiwanese peers and chipmakers are facing escalating theft of technologies and trade secrets in China. Talent poaching in China is among the latest approaches to obtain sensitive information.
“Chongqing HKC Optoelectronics Technology Co (重慶惠科金渝光電) has been illegally manufacturing and selling flat panels made using 17 patents owned by Innolux,” Innolux said in a statement.
Chongqing HKC also supplies the illegal panels to HKC’s Hefei subsidiary to assemble 32-inch LCD televisions, models H32L1 and H32S2, as well as other display products, Innolux said.
Many of those TVs have been sold through online and brick-and-mortar stores in China, it said.
Innolux said it on Feb. 12 filed lawsuits with the Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court and Ningbo Intermediate People’s Court, both of which were accepted.
The Miaoli-based company said it intends to seek damages and demands that HKC stop infringing its patents and halt its illegal manufacturing activities, the statement said.
Innolux also demanded the destruction of all problematic inventories and equipment used to produce the goods, chairman Wang Jyh-chao (王志超) said in the statement.
In a separate statement, Innolux called on its Chinese counterparts to stop stealing advanced technologies and company secrets by poaching talent.
Innolux has a global workforce of 60,000 and owns a large number of registered patents related to LCD manufacturing in China, the statement said.
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