Toshiba sues Imation and others over DVD patents

Toshiba filed suit Thursday in a U.S. court against Imation and several manufacturers and distributors of recordable DVD media for the alleged infringement of its patents.

Toshiba licenses patents essential for meeting DVD format specifications, the company said on Thursday.

Imation and the other defendant companies named in the complaint do not have license agreements covering recordable DVD media with Toshiba or the DVD6C Licensing Group (DVD6C), and have engaged in the import and sale of recordable DVD media in the United States without permission, Toshiba said.

DVD6C was set up by nine developers of DVD technology and formats, to license jointly their DVD patents.

Eight companies, including companies in Taiwan and India, have been named as defendants in the suit before the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

Toshiba's complaint seeks damages for past infringement, and requests that the court prohibit the sale, manufacture and import into the United States of recordable DVD media by the defendant companies.

The infringing recordable DVD media is sold in the United States under the Imation and Memorex brand names, Toshiba said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.