As part of a seemingly endless patent dispute, Japanese TV maker Funai wants to block Vizio from shipping TVs to the United States.
The call was spurred by an International Trade Commission ruling in favor of Funai. With 60 days passed from the ruling, Funai says President Barack Obama can no longer overrule the ITC's decision. That means Vizio and several smaller companies have to stop shipping any infringing products to the US, Funai says.
Vizio called Funai's lawsuit "frivolous" and said the products involved with its patent infringement claims are obsolete. "Since the ITC’s limited exclusion order applies only to chipsets that contain the allegedly infringing feature, Vizio believes their customers will continue to receive a continued supply of Vizio’s television products," the company said in a statement.
The battle between Funai and Vizio has played out publicly thanks to press releases from both companies. Since the initial ITC ruling in February, Vizio has launched two lawsuits against Funai, one related to antitrust and unfair competition, and another for patent infringement. Meanwhile, Funai accused Vizio of trying to "end-run" the ITC by urging Federal Communications Commission involvement.
On a humorous side note, Vizio also sued LG last week for patent infringement.
Through all this fighting, we rarely hear about the patents themselves. That makes me think they're either easily worked around due to insignificance or so broad that any TV manufacturer is likely to come up with the same solution. Can't we all just get along and get back to competing on price and picture quality?
