Funai Electric, which may be better known in the United States by the brand names Sylvania, Emerson and Symphonic, announced it had filed a formal complaint on Oct. 15 with the International Trade Commission (ITC) against 14 manufacturers and importers of ATSC DTV receivers and other ATSC related products.
Funai asked the ITC for an exclusion order preventing the companies from bringing infringing products into the United States. It also asked for “cease and desist” orders directed at the accused infringers to halt their “importing, offering for sale, marketing, advertising, demonstrating, warehousing, distributing, selling and/or using” such digital television sets and products in this country.
Funai previously filed suits in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California seeking damages resulting from infringement of Funai’s DTV patents. Funai said that if an investigation is instituted, it expects the trial will be concluded within a year.
The 14 companies involved are Vizio, Inc., Amtran Technology Co. Ltd., Syntax-Brillian Corp., Taiwan Kolin Co. Ltd., Polaroid Corp., Petter Group Worldwide LLC, Proview International Holdings Ltd., Proview Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., Proview Technology Inc., TPV Technology Ltd., TPV International (USA) Inc., Top Victory Electronics (Taiwan) Co. Ltd., Envision Peripherals, Inc. and International Reliance Corp.
