Fujitsu sues over plasma displays
Published: 07 Apr 2004 12:20 BST
Japan's Fujitsu has announced that it had initiated legal action against South Korea's Samsung over alleged patent infringements of its plasma display panels.
In suits filed in the US Federal District Court in Los Angeles and the Tokyo District Court, Fujitsu sought an injunction against future imports of certain Samsung monitors as well as an unspecified amount in compensation.
Plasma display panels (PDPs) are a key component in flat-panel televisions, a market currently experiencing substantial growth. According to research firm Display Search, global shipments of PDPs in 2003 swelled 2.4 times from the previous year to 1,779,000.
In particular, Korean firms LG Electronics and Samsung have been aggressively boosting manufacturing capacity and display sizes. Samsung's display unit, Samsung SDI, announced in February an 80-inch plasma television, which it claimed to be the world's largest.
Fujitsu, whose joint venture with Hitachi is the market leader in plasma displays, said in its statement that Samsung had rejected its previous requests for "reasonable" settlement.
"Fujitsu has invested over 30 years and very significant resources in developing commercially viable PDP technology," said Masanobu Katoh, group president of Fujitsu's Intellectual Property Group. "We cannot permit others to exploit these valuable inventions without appropriate compensation."
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