AFP

Tokyo: Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. said on Tuesday, 7 August, it had filed a lawsuit against South Korean rival Samsung Electronics Co. for alleged patent infringement in liquid crystal displays.

Sharp filed the suit in a US district court in the state of Texas on Monday, seeking unspecified damages and a ban of the sale of Samsung LCD modules in the US as well as televisions and mobile phones which use the technology.

“Sharp has negotiated in good faith with Samsung for an LCD patent licence since 2006 but has regrettably been unable to resolve this matter through negotiations,” the Japanese company said in a statement.

“As a result, the company was compelled to file the current lawsuit to protect its intellectual property,” it said.

Sharp, which has requested a jury trial, is a pioneer of LCD screens, having launched one of the world’s first LCD pocket calculators in 1973.

The company has cashed in on a boom in demand for flat TVs as consumers swap their old tube sets for ultra thin new ones and recently announced plans to invest about 3.2 billion dollars in a huge new LCD screen plant in Japan.