News: Taiwanese LCD maker files second suit against Sony

Sony Computer Entertainment's new Play Station 3 (PS3) game console is displayed during a news conference in Tokyo August 19, 2009.

Credit: Reuters/Yuriko Nakao

By Liana B. Baker

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Taiwan's Chimei Innolux Corp sued Japan's Sony Corp for infringing on patents used in PlayStation 3 video game consoles, televisions, computer notebooks and cameras.
Sony engaged in "widespread infringement" of three patents dating back to 1998 Chimei said in its lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Delaware on Monday.
Chimei said the infringement came after it had invested tens of millions of dollars in developing liquid crystal display (LCD) panels and related products.
The complaint was filed a month after Chimei filed a similar lawsuit against Sony in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.
Chimei is seeking unspecified compensatory damages, which it wants tripled because of what it considers Sony's "willful" misconduct, and other remedies.
Neither company returned calls seeking comment.
Sony, the world's second-largest camera maker and the third-largest flat screen TV maker, posted an operating profit of 67 billion yen ($785 million) in its fiscal quarter ended in June.
Chimei Innolux was formed in a three-way merger in March and overtook AU Optronics as Taiwan's No. 1 LCD maker. It reported a second-quarter net profit of T$9.54 billion (US$298 million) on August 9
The case is: Chimei Innolux Corp v. Sony Corp et al, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware, No. 10-00706.
The case in the Western District of Arkansas is Chimei Innolux Corp v Sony Corp, et al, No. 5:10-cv-05122.
(Reporting by Liana B. Baker; editing by Leslie Gevirtz)