Fujitsu, "Samsung Infringed PDP Patent”

Fujitsu, a Japanese electronics company, has entered litigation against Samsung-related companies such as Samsung SDI and Samsung Japan under the suspicion of their intended infringement of the Plasma Display Panel (PDP) related patent, reported Nihongeizai Shimbun on April 7.

Fujitsu has also requested the local court of Tokyo to make provisional disposition against Samsung Japan, which imports the PDP products from Samsung SDI in Korea and deals in the market, in order to prevent the sales and imports. To the U.S. federal central local court in California, they have raised a complaint against Samsung SDI, Samsung Electronics, and Samsung Electronics America, stating that these three companies should be prevented from further imports and sales, and that reasonable compensation be provided.

On the petition, Fujitsu asserted, “Samsung SDI has infringed about ten of our patents related to the radiation structures, which raises luminosity, prolongs the length of life of a PDP product, and allows variety of color representation.”

Fujitsu, which has developed PDP technologies since 1967 and possesses about 800 patents related to the PDP in various countries all over the world, mentioned that their failure in negotiation between Samsung about the PDP contracts caused them to stir these litigation crises. They have made several contracts with Japanese companies such as Matsushita Electronics.

The Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display Panel (FHP) is currently the leader in PDP market share at 23.9 percent, and Samsung SDI is hotly pursuing at 20.0 percent.

If the U.S. and Japanese courts were to accept these requests of Fujitsu, Samsung SDI will be banned from marketing in Japan and the U.S. and their supply of OEM-method products will also face a deadlock.

According to this, “We have already suggested the litigation for nullifying Fujitsu’s patent to the federal court of Los Angeles at the end of this February because their technology has already been spread out to the public,” remarked the spokesperson of Samsung SDI, adding, “Fujitsu’s current litigation seems to be designed for confronting our request made in February.”

Many Korean companies regard this litigation of Fujitsu as a countermeasure for holding down the arising Korean companies from further prosperity.

Hun-Joo Cho Jin-Suk Huh hanscho@donga.com jameshuh@donga.com