Funai, Polaroid Reach Deal on DTV Technology Licenses

By Doug Lung
published

Funai Electric said it has reached a patent licensing agreement with Polaroid and the Petters Group for certain Funai Electric patents relating to technologies it controls that are included in the ATSC standards according to an article in TWICE.

As a result of the settlement, Funai will move to dismiss Polaroid and Petters Group from a patent infringement suit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Funai said 11 companies remain in the International Trade Commission investigation regarding infringement of Funai’s patents.

Agreements were reached earlier this year with International Reliance Corporation and International Norcent Technology. The number of licensees of Funai’s DTV patent now total 15.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.