Thu 3 May 2007
Nano-Proprietary, Inc. Announces Verdict in Canon SED TV Litigation
Posted by SED TV Guy under SED TV[6] Comments
Great news for SED TV fans! I think this is the best possible outcome in this case.
AUSTIN, TX — (MARKET WIRE) — May 03, 2007 — Nano-Proprietary, Inc. (OTCBB: NNPP) today announced that the jury has reached a verdict in its litigation against Canon, Inc. In its verdict, the jury decided that Nano-Proprietary was due no additional damages beyond those already received, which includes the right to keep the $5.5 million that it originally received and termination of the original license agreement.
“While we are disappointed by the jury’s verdict, we need to keep in mind that we already had the most important victory in the case when the Court validated our termination of Canon’s license as a result of their material breach of the contract,” said Tom Bijou, Chief Executive officer of Nano-Proprietary, Inc. “We were also pleased that during the trial, Canon confirmed its plans to move forward with its SED TV and continue to believe that the advent of field emission display televisions will be a signal event for Nano-Proprietary. We made a significant gesture to Canon during the course of the trial that we hope will provide a framework of cooperation and negotiation for the future. Nothing about today’s verdict changes the fact that we have significant intellectual property that we believe will have to be licensed by anybody, including Canon, that wishes to sell televisions based on electron emissions in the broad geographical areas of the world where our IP is in effect. The vast majority of our revenue forecast for 2007 has little to do with televisions. Our growth in the materials and sensor business continues to be one of the drivers of our future.”
Technorati Tags: Nano-Proprietary, Canon, SED TV
May 3rd, 2007 at 5:44 pm
This is rather surprising news! I’m actually starting to become optimistic again. I just spent some time in an HDTV showroom today, trying to find out why I dislike LCD for large screen TVs. (Nothing beats phosphors, at least until OLEDs.) It made me think about SEDs a lot.
Now how long will it take before they reach mass-market, at an affordable price? Hopefully less than five years.
May 4th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Glad to hear that Canon will release SED TVs. Until the industry markets something that has the same or better picture quality than phosphors, they can keep their overpriced plasma and LCDs.
May 4th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
I don’t really find it surprising at all. Canon never went to market with a single panel. To award damages above and beyond the 5.x million dollars they basically paid for “nothing” would have been absurd. I would like to see Canon develop an alternate method of making this work that doesn’t require Nano’s IP.
May 4th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
In fact – Nano should refund canon it’s 5m
May 5th, 2007 at 8:36 am
I might be wrong but if the initial licensing agreement was terminated this means that Canon now has to renegotiate a new licensing deal i.e higher licensing fees which Nano was always looking for. While both parties come out looking good it still means that the price of these TV sets will be higher considering a new licensing agreement which will have to be worked out. I presume this now opens the door to other manufacturers willing to enter the fray. Figure we are probably 5 years away from “affordable” SED sets, in the meantime I will contine to enjoy using my 20 year old NEC and JVC CRT sets.
May 5th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
I’ve been following this Nano case for a while, but I’ve been wondering… Would you consider nano some kind of patent troll, such as NTP? (See the Blackberry and now Palm cases.) Did Canon really need this IP?
I wonder what reception canon will have on the consumer market. I can see them selling these panels to production companies (one of which I am starting now), but do they really have the brand recognition in this sort of market to convince consumers? having the Toshiba brand over the Canon screens would have been so practical from a commercial point of view.
If they make some kind of new contract, can Toshiba still join in on the fun?
Hopefully in less than 5 years I will be doing editing work on a 50″ SED pannel. It’s nice to dream, isn’t it?