January 2007

news archive

Patent Suit may Further Delay Launch of SED TV

TOKYO - The long-awaited and oft-delayed launch of surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) TV may be further delayed due to an ongoing patent suit filed in the United States by Texas-based Nano-Proprietary Inc. against Canon Inc., whose SED Inc. joint venture with Toshiba Corp. had planned to release the sets in late 2007.

Toshiba and Canon had planned on demonstrating a 55-in. prototype of the SED TVs at next week's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but in late December, Toshiba announced that it will not be showing SED at CES. At the 2006 CES, Toshiba and Canon both showed 37-in. SED prototypes

"The reason is neither a technical nor business issue, but we are not allowed to disclose details due to confidentiality obligation," a Toshiba statement explained. "Toshiba further believes that the issue will be resolved soon and then we will be able to come back to the U.S. for a 55-in. SED demo."

The suit stems from a 1999 agreement in which Nano-Proprietary licensed field-emission-display technology to Canon that the latter has been using to develop SED TV. In 2005, Nano-Proprietary filed a complaint in a Texas U.S. District Court alleging Canon's use of the licensed technology for a joint venture violated the 1999 agreement.

Nano-Proprietary's complaint lists two main qualms with SED Inc.'s use of the field-emission technology. First off, according to Nano-Proprietary, the original licensing agreement granted use of the licensed technology only to Canon and Canon subsidiaries. Joint venture SED Inc. would not fall into the category of subsidiary, Nano-Proprietary said, because it is co-owned by Toshiba, which does not have a licensing agreement from the technology's owner.

Secondly, Nano-Proprietary claims, the original licensing agreement forbids use of the field-emission technology for color flat-panel displays, such as the SED TV Canon and Toshiba are betting on as the next hot display technology.

In a response, Canon denied each of these allegations. But according to a report on www.forbes.com from the AFX news service, a U.S. District Court in November denied a request from Canon to recognize SED Inc. as a subsidiary. Since that decision, the report said, Canon has held consultations with Toshiba to determine how to respond to the situation. Options being discussed allegedly include increasing Canon's stake in the joint venture, of which it is said to own half plus one share.

A representative from Nano-Proprietary declined to comment when contacted on Jan. 3, and a spokesperson for Canon couldn't be reached.