14 DAY TRIAL // It would appear that even the last days of 2010 are ready to welcome, so to speak, another legal dispute, this time arisen between none other than Sony and LG, as the former claims the latter's products infringe its patents.
Patent infringement lawsuits are all too common in the IT industry, as licensing companies, or companies of any other sort, often find reason to start court actions.
Some companies even get involved in multiple patent lawsuits at once, with many different other players and over the infringement of various distinct patent families.
Rambus, for example, is embroiled not just in a suit against NVIDIA, but also in one versus many makers of memory.
Those that keep track of such things will probably know that the latter claims have prompted an investigation by the US ITC.
Now, Sony begun a legal action against LG, through which it claims that more than one product made by LG Electronics infringes two of its patents.
The Patent #7,580,006 ('Portable telephone') is supposedly infringed with the Xenon (GR500) and the Quantum (C900) mobile phones.
Also, the LG Remarq (LN240), Lotus Elite (LX610), Rumor 2 (VM265), Xenon (GR500) and other devices are said to infringe Patent #6,222,921 (entitled 'Method and apparatus for displaying an electronic phonebook').
Sony seeks to get monetary damages and hopes that the court will enforce a US import and sales ban on LG's infringing mobile phones and modems.
“Sony has been keen to protect its patents,” said Yuji Fujimori, a Tokyo-based analyst at Barclays Capital.
“U.S. is an important market for Sony as its mobile phone venture with Ericsson is trying to win a bigger share.”
What remains to be seen is how things progress and how much time (weeks, months or even years) it will take for the entire legal process to be resolved.