The Tokyo company and its U.S. subsidiary filed a lawsuit at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission over the products, which include DVD players, recorders and other DVD-related products, Toshiba said in a statement.
The court case seeks damages from the companies while the ITC case asks for the products to be banned from importation into the U.S.
Typically the companies would have to pay a few dollars in royalties for each DVD player they make. The DVD6C Licensing Group, which licenses patents on behalf of 9 companies that hold basic DVD technology, charges between US$3 and $8 per player.
The 17 companies named in both complaints are: Daewoo Electronics America Inc. (U.S.), Dongguan GVG Digital Technology Ltd. (China), Dongguan Tonic Electronics Co. Ltd. (China), Dongguan Xin Lian Digital Technology Co. Ltd. (China), GVG Digital Technology Holdings Ltd. (HK), jWIN Electronics Corp. (U.S.), Memcorp Inc. (U.S.), Star Light Electronics Co. Ltd. (Hong Kong), Starlight International Holdings Ltd. (Hong Kong), Starlight Marketing (HK) Ltd. (Hong Kong), Tonic Digital Products Ltd. (Hong Kong), Tonic DVB Marketing Ltd. (China), Tonic Electronics Ltd. (Hong Kong), Tonic Industries Holdings Ltd. (Hong Kong), Tonic Technology (HK) Ltd. (Hong Kong), Tonic Technology (Shenzhen) Ltd. (China) and Tonic Trading Development Ltd. (Hong Kong).
Toshiba sues 17 low-cost DVD player makers
Toshiba Corp. has launched legal action in the U.S. against 17 companies that it says haven't paid the required licensing fees for DVD technology used in their products.
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