Sharp sues Samsung over patent claims

Sharp has filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics for allegedly infringing its liquid crystal display patents. This row between the world's third and second biggest LCD TV makers respectively, could escalate as the Seoul-based company said it might countersue.

Sharp alleges that Samsung has infringed five of its LCD-related patents and filed a lawsuit in the US district court in eastern Texas.

The Japanese electronics company is seeking compensatory damages and a ban on the sale of Samsung products that supposedly violate these patents. In addition, Sharp - which is requesting a jury trial - claims it had negotiated with Samsung in "good faith" for an LCD patent license for some time, but an agreement satisfactory to both sides was never reached.

According to the Financial Times Samsung has commented that it "respects the intellectual property rights of others, but will take take all necessary legal steps to defend itself and its subsidiaries against lawsuits based on patents that are not valid, and or enforceable".

Sounds like another patent claim we heard about only very recently.

Samsung also said it was considering "various LCD-related patent counterclaims to be filed against Sharp".