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Fujitsu files suits against Samsung over PDP patents

Fujitsu Ltd, the world's largest maker of plasma-display panels, filed lawsuits in the US and Japan against Samsung Electronics Co and its units, accusing them of infringing patents for plasma-display panel (PDP) technology.

Fujitsu sued Samsung Japan Corp, a Samsung Electronics' unit in Japan, according to a statement filed by Fujitsu on Business Wire. In the US, Tokyo-based Fujitsu sued Samsung Electronics, a Samsung Electronics sales unit and Samsung SDI Co, said Yuichi Ikeda, a Fujitsu spokesman.

The market for PDPs may rise to US$5.8 billion in sales by 2006 from US$2.7 billion this year, researcher DisplaySearch said.

An injunction was sought by Fujitsu in the Tokyo District Court against the import and sale of Samsung's plasma panels in Japan, said Fujitsu spokeswoman Yuri Momomoto. She confirmed an earlier report by the Nihon Keizai newspaper.

"South Korean makers are gaining market share at a fast pace and we will counter them" with the ?75 billion (US$708 million) investment to boost production capacity, Fujitsu chairman Naoyuki Akikusa said last month.

Samsung SDI Co, the world's second-largest maker of PDPs, asked a US district court last month to nullify patents held by Fujitsu related to plasma-display technology, a legal document showed. Suwon, South Korea-based SDI also sought an injunction last month against Fujitsu and its affiliates barring them from suing SDI on at least eight patents, according to the document.

"We'll await the court's ruling," Bryan Sohn, a Samsung SDI spokesman said yesterday of the case brought in the US.

He declined to comment further.

Fujitsu has pioneered technologies to develop and make PDPs, and says it holds about 800 patents covering PDP development and production. It has licensing agreements on PDP patents with Japanese rival companies such as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co and Pioneer Corp, which in February bought PDP operations from NEC Corp.
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