Patent Law

Rick Merritt writes in today's, September 18, 2008, EE Times:

The world's top television makers appear to hold no significant patents in stereoscopic 3-D despite the fact that some of the largest Hollywood studios want to drive the concept of 3DTV into the market. LG, Matsushita, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba currently have no significant patents on stereo 3-D, according to an initial patent search by EE Times.

Hollywood studios want to help set a standard for 3DTV so they can sell home versions of the increasing number of 3-D movies they are creating for the cinema. Some observers say stereo 3-D could be the next big thing in television beyond today's high definition flat panel systems. Others say the technology is far from ready for prime time.

Some 184 patents come up on a search of the U.S. patent office Web site for stereoscopic 3-D. About half those patents apply to product concepts such as 3DTV, with most of the rest related to a variety of topics including 3-D printing.

Sharp Electronics Corp. is the king of stereo 3-D intellectual property with at least 11 stereo 3-D patents granted since 1995. The company's patents have received a whopping 99 citations in other filings.

There's still time for the big players to catch up. One patent expert said patents only become really valuable when they apply to shipping products. Although Samsung and LG are experimenting with early 3DTV systems, most observers believe it could take three to five years or longer before the industry sets standards for 3DTVs geared for the mainstream.

"We haven't heard anyone talking about [3DTV patents] yet," said Joe Chernesky, president of IPotential (San Mateo, Calif.), a patent consulting and brokerage firm. "We typically see activity when there are products on the market that can be considered as infringing," he added.

Read the full article here.