Toshiba Slams Italian Firm With DVD-Related Lawsuit

Over the past few years patents (or their infringement) have become the favorite lawsuit subject between various technology manufacturers, especially since these legal actions are generally associated with huge amounts of money in damages and possibly even the injunction of certain products on certain markets. And this is also the case with the latest announcement from Toshiba, who filed a lawsuit in Italy against an Italian disc replicator of DVD discs. The suit was brought to the District Court of Milan - Specialised IP Chamber against ACME S.p.A. (ACME), as a means to halt infringement a Toshiba's DVD patent.

Toshiba licenses patents essential for meeting DVD format specifications. ACME has not entered into license agreements with Toshiba or the DVD6C Licensing Group, and has engaged in the manufacture and sale of DVD video discs in Italy without permission. Toshiba contends that ACME's infringement of Toshiba's patent has damaged Toshiba's DVD-related business and the legitimate and licensed DVD product manufacturing and distribution business as a whole.

In filing the lawsuit, Toshiba prepares to recover monetary damages, and to secure an agreement from ACME to respect Toshiba's intellectual property rights in future.

This is not the first DVD-related legal action Toshiba has taken lately. Thus, the Japanese company previously filed lawsuits in the US against infringement of its DVD patents, against an American importer and wholesaler of DVD-related products in 2005 and against 17 manufacturers and importers of DVD-related products in April 2007. Furthermore, the company also brought a lawsuit in Germany in July 2007, against a German DVD disc replicator.

Of course, it remains to be seen what the judges will decide on this matter, but since we all know how these things usually go, the Italian company will probably ultimately cough up the respective amount.

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