SED seems pushed back again further...

[Rio]

http://www.informationweek.com/news/...on=All+Stories

Court Rules Against Canon In Flat-Panel Suit

The ruling is a blow to Canon's endeavour to enter the $84 billion global flat-TV market using technology owned by Texas-based Nano-Proprietary.

By Reuters
InformationWeek

2 23, 2007 07:58 HM

TOKYO, Feb 23 - A U.S. court has ruled against Japan's Canon Inc. in a patent dispute over flat-panel displays, saying the company violated the licence agreement it had with Nano-Proprietary Inc.

The ruling is a blow to Canon's endeavour to enter the $84 billion global flat-TV market using technology owned by Texas-based Nano-Proprietary.

According to a ruling issued on Thursday, Judge Samuel Sparks of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas said Nano-Proprietary had the right to terminate the licence agreement it signed with Canon in 1999.

Nano-Proprietary's technology is used for surface-conduction electron-emitter displays (SED) TVs, which are said to have brighter pictures and consume less energy than liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma models.

Nano-Proprietary had filed a suit after Canon set up a venture with Toshiba Corp. in 2004 to jointly develop SEDs, claiming that its licence deal with Canon did not extend to the new Japanese partner.

The disagreement last month pushed Canon to decide to buy out the shares Toshiba owned in the unit, SED Ltd., but Nano-Proprietary said that move alone would not resolve the litigation.

"Canon's recent restructuring of SED as a wholly owned subsidiary is ineffective to prevent termination because this effort to cure the breach was not undertaken within a reasonable time," Sparks said in the ruling. "It occured more than a year and a half after Canon was on notice of its breach."

Canon had hoped to commercialise SED televisions to challenge electronics giants such as Samsung Electronics and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.

But without expertise in televisions, Tokyo-based Canon has said it planned to outsource the manufacturing of the television sets to Toshiba while making the panels on its own.

Canon has also said it is reviewing its initial plan to build a 180 billion yen ($1.48 billion) factory this year at a site owned by Toshiba in western Japan to mass-produce the panels.

Instead, the company aims to start producing SED panels at a smaller site and begin limited sales of the televisions in Japan in the October-December quarter.

But without a plan for full-scale production, the legal tussle with Nano-Proprietary brings new risks to the Japanese firm.

Canon, the world's top maker of copiers and digital cameras, had hoped the display business would become a new profit driver as it expects cooling demand in its existing core products.

A Tokyo-based Canon spokesman declined to comment, saying the lawsuit was still going on.

A source close to the matter told Reuters the trial would proceed to assess the damages due to Nano-Proprietary, and that a possible new licence deal could materialise.

Canon shares were up 1.2 percent at 6,660 yen on Friday, outperforming a 0.4 percent gain on the Nikkei benchmark.

By: Aiko Wakao

Copyright 2007 Reuters. Click for Restrictions

[The Big Blue]

Is this (SED) the inexpensive, huge display, highly reliable, future of tv displays that my neighbor keeps telling me about?

[Rio]

Originally Posted by The Big Blue

Is this (SED) the inexpensive, huge display, highly reliable, future of tv displays that my neighbor keeps telling me about?

At least, it will be far expensive than plasma or LCD.

[Deciazulado]

Originally Posted by The Big Blue

Is this (SED) the inexpensive, huge display, highly reliable, future of tv displays that my neighbor keeps telling me about?

Maybe he means OLED, another future display contender

[dialog_gvf]

Wow, a new tech held back totally by greed.

Contrast that with the existance of Blu-ray and HD DVD, which are separate offerings brought out because of greed.

I wonder if Nano-Proprietary Inc. will find the technology will have extreme competition by the time it is able to bring it to market. Unless they deal with Canon/Toshiba you'd think another multi-year R&D effort would be required to commercialize it.

Gary

[HiNRG]

Originally Posted by The Big Blue

Is this (SED) the inexpensive, huge display, highly reliable, future of tv displays that my neighbor keeps telling me about?

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

Maybe he means OLED, another future display contender

Since the biggest OLED display made so far is only 27 inches, I wouldn't think his neighbor was talking about this one.

[JTK]

I've almost written SED off completely at this point.

I think OLED is going to be the next big thing to really watch out for.

[ProvenFlipper]

Originally Posted by JTK

I've almost written SED off completely at this point.

I think OLED is going to be the next big thing to really watch out for.

I'm feeling the same way. After seeing pictures of the Sony OLED from CES, I'm waiting for 2nd generation of those to come out and then I think I'll be ready for a new TV.

I was going to buy an LCD, but didn't because of all of the new LCDs coming out in the fall. Instead I picked up a Samsung DLP to tie me over, but I'm liking it alot more than I thought I would, so it might see duty for a few years. Hopefully I can hold out until they get these OLED tvs out in bigger sizes and get some of the bugs worked out.

[Blackraven]

Originally Posted by JTK

I've almost written SED off completely at this point.

I think OLED is going to be the next big thing to really watch out for.

Wahoo. OLED display tech is the future

For SED fans, you can blame Toshiba on putting more focus on their HD-DUD instead of giving priority to SED tech.

Because of their mistake, I predict that OLED TV would be the one and true display tech to replace ALL forms of display technology .......................

....................................

until we reach Inorganic Light Emitting Diode (ILED) after year 2020. :P