Vizio sues Funai again

the second time this year, flat panel HDTV maker Vizio has sued competitor Funai. Made official on Wednesday, the Vizio lawsuit is seeking an injunction of the sales of the offending Funai hardware in the US and unspecified monetary damages, arguing Funai has infringed on a number of patents held by Vizio related to manufacturing, importing and distribution of HDTVs. Vizio is seeking "millions in damages" for profits from the past sales of infringing products from Funai.

"Unlike Funai, our patent portfolio has not been rejected by the USPTO, we at Vizio respect the rights of intellectual property and we will not stand by while foreign competitors misappropriate our intellectual property," said Laynie Newsome, Vizio co-founder and VP Sales and Marketing Communications.

Funai manufactures and distributes HDTVs under the Philips, Magnavox, Emerson, Sylvania, and Symphonic brand names.

In February, Vizio filed an antitrust and unfair competition lawsuit against Funai that stated Funai and its associates "unlawfully restrained" trade and monopolized the market for the licensing of technology used to interpret information from a digital TV signal, as well as the market for TVs and receivers themselves. Vizio argued Funai inappropriately acquired the rights to a single US patent and unfairly discriminated against Vizio in the licensing and enforcement of the patent.

By Electronista Staff