Matsushita Electric Industrial (MEI) announced it is suing CMC Magnetics for infringing the company’s DVD patents.
For more information visit: panasonic.net
Unedited press release follows:
Matsushita Electric Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against CMC Magnetics Corporation
Osaka, Japan (Jul 27, 2006) – Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Matsushita Electric), best known for its Panasonic brand name, announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, charging that DVD discs made by CMC Magnetics Corporation (CMC), a Taiwanese disc manufacturer, infringe Matsushita Electric’s patents. The lawsuit also names two US affiliates of CMC, Hotan Corporation and KHypermedia Corporation.
Matsushita Electric had been negotiating in good faith with CMC to license these patents since fall of 2004. In addition, a license under Matsushita Electric’s essential DVD patents was available to the defendants through the DVD6C (*) patent pool since fall of 2003.
(*)The DVD6C is an industry body consisting of eight leading developers of DVD technology and formats – Hitachi, Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Sharp Corporation, Toshiba Corporation, Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC) and Warner Home Video Inc. It licenses essential patents on a non-exclusive basis for DVD Standard Specifications owned by those eight companies. For further details, please see its website www.dvd6cla.com.
About Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic)
Best known by its Panasonic brand name, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of electronic products for a wide range of consumer, business, and industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company recorded consolidated net sales of US$76.02 billion for the year ended March 31, 2006. The company’s shares are listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, New York (NYSE:MC) and Frankfurt* stock exchanges. For more information on the company and the Panasonic brand, visit the company’s website at http://panasonic.net.
*Matsushita delisted its shares from the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in June 2006, and plans to complete delisting procedures for the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in August 2006.