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The Inquirer: Having won a critical patent appeal in its native Japan, Canon is well on the way to being the first electronics manufacturer to make displays based on surface-conduction electron emitters.

Canon had previously sub-licensed the patent technology to make SEDs and had started designing TVs using the technology, displaying prototypes as long ago as 2006. But patent-holder Applied Nanotech took Canon to court, claiming that this sub-licensing was illegal.

The US circuit court ruled in July that it was wrong, and Applied has today announced that it won’t be pursuing the matter further. Canon now plans to start working SEDs into a line of TVs to complete with rival OLED technology, pushed hard by Samsung and Sony. But the technology may be put on the back burner for now due to the current economic climate.

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Engadget: It’s been a while since we’ve heard about Canon’s legal troubles with SED, but it sounds like things are taking a turn for the better.

An American court ruled last week that Canon had not broken its contract with Nano-Proprietary (now called Applied Nanotech Holdings) since Canon is now the sole owner of its previous joint venture with Toshiba, SED Inc.

The court also reinstated Canon’s license to the SED tech, but since Canon stopped working on the tech last year, it’ll probably be a while before we see any SED displays actually show up.

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Trusted Reviews: After losing long time partner Toshiba, Canon looks set to try and push out the tech by making a some manufacturing compromises. According to news giant Bloomberg, Canon “has started the development of a new electron-emitting technology that should be more stable than Nano-Proprietary’s”, a move claim to ease mass production problems and, potentially, reduce the cost.

Against this case for the defence however Canon still gave no indication about when the fabled technology will be commercially available and having heard first hand reports over the years of Q4 2006, Q2 2007 and Q4 2007, the probable whispers of Q2/Q4 2008 don’t fill me with a great deal of confidence.

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TheStreet.com: Hitachi, Canon and Matsushita have formed an alliance to bolster their liquid crystal display panel businesses.

The announcement highlights the increasing competition in the flat-panel industry. Other players have already teamed up: Sony and Samsung have struck an alliance, as have Sharp and Toshiba.

In a press release Hitachi, Canon and Matsushita said they would “merge their strengths to accelerate the development of cutting-edge display technologies and expand their scope of application.”

The companies said they’ve also reached a basic agreement for Canon and Matsushita each to acquire 24.9% of the shares of Hitachi Displays, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi that builds small and medium-sized LCD panels. They expect the deal to close by March 31, subject to regulatory approval. After the transaction is complete, Hitachi’s stake in its Hitachi Displays unit will be 50.2%.

Global demand for LCD panels is growing as they’re being used in many types of electronic devices, including mobile phones, flat-panel TVs, computer monitors, digital cameras and game consoles.

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Tech-On: Canon has decided to acquire Tokki Corp, a manufacturer of OLED display manufacturing equipment, as its subsidiary. Through the alliance with Tokki, Canon looks to greatly accelerate OLED display development.

The company is also holding high hopes for synergy Tokki could bring to Canon Anelva, its subsidiary manufacturing vacuum film forming equipment for semiconductors and flat panel displays.

Tokki has been primarily engaged in the development, manufacturing and sale of OLED display manufacturing equipment and thin-film solar cell manufacturing equipment.

OLED displays use organic, or carbon-containing, compounds that emit light when electricity is applied. Unlike liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, they do not need backlighting, making OLED panels slimmer and more energy-efficient.

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NetworkWorld: A doctor who is headed to prison for defrauding government health insurance programs claims he patented the touchscreen keyboard used by the iPhone and is suing Apple in federal court.

Peter Boesen, a surgeon from Iowa, was convicted last year of seeking reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid for medical procedures that were unnecessary or not performed. He’s also tried to get money by filing patent claims against companies including Canon, LG Electronics, Kyocera and now Apple, according to news reports.

Boesen and Thomas Mann were granted a patent in 2004 that says they invented “a method of entering data on a touchscreen display” with a graphical keyboard area that automatically terminates once input is received.

Boesen, through a company called SP Technologies in Florida, sued Apple last week in U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas. The suit reportedly demands a permanent injunction against Apple, as well as damages and attorney’s fees.

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PC World: Toshiba won’t launch flat-panel TVs based on SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) screens this year after all.

The Tokyo company is postponing the planned 4th quarter launch because panel-maker Canon won’t be able to supply the screens, Toshiba said on Friday in a brief statement. Toshiba had originally planned a limited launch this year and wider availability of the sets in 2008, in time for the Beijing Olympics.

SED has been under development by the two companies for some years. Compared to competing flat-panel display technologies like LCD (liquid crystal display) and PDP (plasma display panel) it offers richer colors, faster response and a generally better picture quality but its launch has been dogged by technical problems and more recently legal problems.

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Smarthouse News: Canon has said that it will not rule out a big aquisition in an effort to grow. It has also confirmed that it will launch SED TV technology this year.

Canon has served notice that it will not give up its No. 1 global position in digital cameras and multifunction printers (MFPs) without a fight. It has also said it has not ruled out a large merger or acquisition for the right company with technology that will help Canon to succeed.

That was one of the messages chairman/CEO Fujio Mitarai gave last week as he tried to pump up the company’s image during an official media tour to the Japanese HQ of Canon.

Mitarai said Canon’s goals include of reaching No. 1 standing in all of it market segments over the next few years, including office imaging products, computer peripherals, business information products, optical products as well as cameras.

He noted Canon reached $35 billion in worldwide sales in 2006 and sports a strong balance sheet.

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Engadget HDTV: Nano-Proprietary’s fraud lawsuit against Canon in a Texas court has been dismissed, with a jury saying no damages had been sustained, since no products have actually shipped. Nano-Proprietary holds patents to some of the technology behind SED, and licensed it to Canon in 1999. Canon then brought Toshiba in as a manufacturing partner, and Nano filed suit.

Now that all claims against Canon USA have been dropped, Canon doesn’t have to pay any additional damages to Nano beyond the price of the original license — but because the original SED patent licensing agreements with Canon have also been scrapped, rights to build the next-generation television have to be negotiated all over again.

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DigiTimes: Canon’s trial of the case brought against it by Nano-Proprietary relating to flat-panel SED TVs concluded on last week in Austin, Texas.

Nano-Proprietary’s fraud claims against Canon were dismissed and the jury returned a verdict that Nano-Proprietary had sustained no damages. All claims against Canon US were also dismissed.

Canon intends to appeal the court’s previous determination that Canon had breached the patent license agreement between the companies, terminating that agreement and allowing Nano-Proprietary to retain the original US$5.5 million purchase price for that license.

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Reuters: Canon said on Thursday it plans to appeal an expected court decision in the United States regarding the SED TV patent dispute against Nano-Proprietary Inc.

Canon expects the ruling in the first trial to go against it after the court judged earlier this year that a license agreement Canon had with Texas-based Nano-Proprietary didn’t extend to the use of the technology by Canon’s partner Toshiba.

Tokyo-based Canon expects that ruling to come in late April, President Tsuneji Uchida said at a general shareholders meeting.

The dispute involves Nano-Proprietary’s technology used in surface-conduction electron-emitter displays (SED), which are said to generate brighter images and consume less energy than existing LCDs and plasma panels.

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AV Zombie: Canon chairman Fujio Mitarai says that his company still expects to launch SED TV products in Japan this autumn, hinting that an accommodation with US firm Nano-Proprietary is possible and that ongoing patent litigation can be avoided.
However, he has issued a caveat that the manufacturing costs associated with the advanced display technology have to be improved. Mitarai says that SED production will not go ahead if the business can not be made profitable in three years. (…)

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