OLED-TV|Laser-TV|SED|Display|FED|

Reuters report today that Canon plans to appeal an expected court decision in the United States regarding a flat-panel 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 (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research). Tokyo-based Canon expects that ruling to come in late April, President Tsuneji Uchida said at a general shareholders meeting. U.S. court based in Austin, TX ruled in February that Nano-Proprietary could terminate a license agreement that it had for seven years with Canon. Canon had planned on sharing the technology with Toshiba Corp., which was its partner in a flat-panel display joint venture to offer superior SED HDTVs in the U.S. (and possibly the world) market. The court did not address Nano-Proprietary's fraud claims against Canon in the ruling, which will be handled separately so that it can assess the size of damages due to the Nano-Proprietary in April. Obviously, the court would like to see Canon and Nano-Proprietary settle out-of-court, but, as it stands right now, neither side can seem agree on anything.
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