Patent Law

Sharpened

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

Samsung has been stung by Sharp at the ITC over flat-panel LCD display patents. One of the Sharp patents in the case went to LCD brightness and refresh rate, and another to minimizing flickering. Samsung has brushed aside speculation about the ruling's impact, stating that it won't affect the company's ability meet market demand. The Financial Times opined: "unable to compete on price, rivals are trying to compete on patents."

Samsung has publicly dismissed a cross-license with Sharp, and said it has a work-around for the patents in dispute at the ITC.

No abatement in the display patent battles can be expected. Sharp and Samsung have patent lawsuits against each other in Japan and Korea as well as the U.S.

For the 2nd quarter of 2009, Samsung Electronics is reported to have a 19.9% market share, topped only by Vizio, with 20.5%. Sharp ranked seventh with 5%.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on November 10, 2009 (boomark / email).