AU Optronics Corp (AUO, 友達光電), the nation’s second-biggest LCD-panel maker, yesterday filed a complaints with a US district court, claiming Sharp Corp infringed its patents on LCD panel manufacturing.
Sharp and its US unit, Sharp Electronics, have illegally used AU Optronics’ intellectual property rights in manufacturing a wide range of display products from those used in mobile phones and computers to flat screens used in Sharp’s Quattron slim-screen TV series, AU Optronics said in a statement.
The Hsinchu-based company said it believed Sharp had infringed several of ots patents, including one on multi-primary color display solutions that enhances the color -performance of TV panels, according to the statement.
AU Optronics said it would seek an unspecified amount of damages from Sharp and a permanent ban on Sharp importing any infringing products into the US.
As of the end of last year, the company owned more than 7,500 patents registered worldwide, with about 6,000 additional patent applications waiting for approval.
In a separate filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, AU Optronics said it had no comment on media speculation that it was likely to buy a share of Star World Technology Corp (中日新), which assembles LCD modules used in handheld devices and consumer electronics.
The Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday that Star World planned to introduce strategic partners by selling its shares via private placement.
AU Optronics and Wintek Corp (勝華), which supplies touch panels to Apple Inc, stood out as possible investors, as they could leverage Star World’s new touch panel assembly business, the paper said.
Wintek has no plan to buy equities at the moment it said in a statement submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
On Jan. 28, Star World’s board approved a proposal to sell 60 million common shares at NT$12.75 per share via private placement. That would replace an earlier plan to sell shares to existing -shareholders, according to the company’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The company “plans to withdraw the [rights issue] plan, considering the [change in] the company’s overall operation,” Star World said in the filing.
The price is not final yet, the company said.
The NT$765 million (US$25.9 million) would primarily be used to improve the company’s financial structure, repay bank loans and buy new equipment, Star World said at the time.
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