HDTV manufacturers Vizio, and Funai are in court and things are taking an interesting twist. Vizio sued Funai for unfair, monopolistic behavior. Funai has several patents that it was using to help sue other TV makers and Vizion wanted to bring the fight to them before they ended up in court too.

The courts are looking at ruling that Funai’s patents aren’t actually valid which would not only prevent Funai from going after everyone it already is, but would save the other companies possibly million in legal-related fees.

The patents in involved are 5,329,369 and 6,115,074. Cases like this bring the whole patent system into inspection as companies seek to be granted patents for really general ideas and innovations only to go after other companies after the fact and litigate to profit.

Source: Betanews

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