By Matthew Henry
TEXAS: Hitachi is taking LG Electronics to court in the USA, charging the Korean plasma manufacturer with infringing seven of Hitachi’s plasma display panel (PDP) technology patents.
Hitachi’s plasma patent licensing subsidiary has filed a lawsuit against LG in the Easter District of Texas demanding the court force LG to pay compensation and cease importing PDP products using the patents into the US market.
“HPPL has been discussing with LG Electronics the terms of an appropriate license for LGE’s PDP products under various relevant patents, including the asserted patents in the infringement lawsuit above. However, because of the parties’ evaluations of the patents vastly differ and the licensing discussions have reached an impasse, HPPL filed the lawsuit to resolve the dispute,” said Hitachi in a statement.
Hitachi Australia would not comment on the lawsuit because it relates to the US subsidiary.
Hitachi recently announced it will boost its plasma panel output to four million units when the company opens a new assembly factory in Malaysia this May which will produce many of the plasma televisions sold in the Australian market.
Hitachi produces plasma panels as part of a manufacturing partnership with Fujitsu called Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma (FHP), which is based in Japan.