| Japan Patent News: May-June 2010 |
 |
June 5, 2010Naoto Kan, Japan's First Patent Attorney Prime Minister
Naoto Kan has been selected as Japan's PM. He is the first patent attorney (benrishi) to fill that post. A little searching of the database of the Japan Patent Attorneys Association will reveal that the PM has a registration number of 7558 and is still officially listed as a member of Hirayama & Company, a patent firm in Tokyo, although the website of that firm does not list Kan as one of their attorneys. Certainly the PM has had his hands filled with politics for numerous years, but he might recall that the job security as a patent attorney is a bit better than that of a PM.
May 25, 2010Knowing When to Fold Them: Canon to Focus on
Non-consumer SED Applications After Clearing Patent Hurdle
According to the paper press on May 25, Canon has decided to freeze its development of flat panel displays using SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) technology for home TV applications and will focus on non-consumer applications.
Canon and Toshiba began joint development of SED technology in 1999, and a development/production company was established in 2004 with joint capitalization from the two firms. The going, however, has been rough.
The first major problem was US patent litigation (with Nano-Proprietary, Inc.), resulting in a number of delays. Canon ultimately took over the joint venture as its subsidiary and set about the task of commercializing SED technology. but has now reached the conclusion that SED cannot survive the fierce price competition in the home TV display market.
The firm will continue to develop SED mass production technology, but with a new focus on such applications as image diagnosis equipment and educational applications.
(Reported in Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei), May 25, 2010)
May 22, 2010Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and General Electric
in Continuing Patent and Antitrust Litigation Regarding Wind Power Generation
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and General Electric Co. are locked in battle over antitrust and patent infringement, focusing on wind power generating technology.
On May 20, MHI filed an antitrust suit against GE in a federal district court in Arkansas, alleging that GE was engaged in anti-competitive behavior aimed at trying to lock MHI out of the US market, and praying for relief in an amount exceeding 1 billion USD. On the same day, MHI filed a patent infringement suit against GE in the US Court, Middle District of Florida, asserting infringement of MHI's US patent 7,452,185 (Ide et al, Blade-Pitch-Angle Control Device and Wind Power Generator), which claims priority from Japanese patent applications 2003-318312 and 2004-143642.
According to MHI, the disputes between the two companies related to wind power generation date back to a February 2008 patent infringement suit filed by GE against MHI, followed by ITC litigation for patent infringement brought by GE against MHI in January this year. With the two new suits filed by MHI on May 20, the two firms are now litigating against one another in a number of venues.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei), May 21, 2010, with additional research by Lise & Partners)
|
Resources