[opendtv] Re: 20060901 Free Friday Fragments (Mark's Monday Memo)
- From: "Allen Le Roy Limberg" <allimberg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 2 Sep 2006 10:00:24 -0400
Mark Schubin writes:
> - Warren Communications News reported earlier this week that LG
announced Monday 8-VSB license deals with five more companies (Enseco,
Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Jabril, and Orion). Only three other have
previously be announced (Mitsubishi, Sharp, and Toshiba). The story is no
longer on their site:
> Notably absent are such giants as Matsushita (Panasonic), Philips,
Samsung, Sony, and Thomson. An industry source has told me that (not
counting Samsung) those companies consider their intellectual property in
digital TVs to be comparable to LG's and, therefore, don't see a need for a
license agreement.
> It might be worth noting that the VSB patent, U.S. number 5,087,975,
was issued on February 11 of 1992:
> A U.S. patent issued in 1992 has a life of 17 years, meaning that
patent will expire a week before the latest date for analog cutoff in the
U.S.:
> An 8-justice majority of the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that "a
patentee's use of a royalty agreement that projects beyond the expiration
date of the patent is unlawful per se":
>
> So there's not much time left for LG to milk the 8-VSB patent.
LG has up to 6 years after a patent expires to sue for infringement within
the period of the patent grant. DTV broadcasters should get ready for a
jolt. Most of Zenith's early patent portfolio was directed to DTV
transmission, rather than to receivers.
Zenith's early receiver designs used analog demodulation, but almost all
commercial DTV receivers use digital demodulation. Their was a TI case a
few years ago in which broad product claims were found inapplicable to later
developments that were radically different in terms of technology. A lot of
the claims in the Zenith patents use means for doing clauses, which are very
narrowly construed by presentday courts. Some of the file histories in the
Zenith patents raise questions in my mind as to the validity of the patents.
LG has to be careful not to swim near any sharks. Why tie up money and time
in litigation if you can win the marketplace with your own DTV receivers?
By the way, Samsung has far and away the largest portfolio of DTV receiver
patents, a lot of them early. Some of the patents are very strong ones.
Samsung is pretty clearly the gorilla in the sandbox.
Daewoo has a couple of good receiver patents.
Remember you only need one good blocking patent to be in a good bargaining
position. It's not just numbers that count.
Al Limberg
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