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Intellectual Property Law

: IPKat

LG obtains border seizure against Sony PS3

By Johanna Gibson, David Pearce, Jeremy Phillips and Ilanah Simon.

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As the Guardian reports, Korean consumer electronic giant LG has obtained a preliminary injunction from the district court of the Hague, barring import of Sony's PS3 game console into the European Union "for at least ten days" (this seems to indicate an ex parte injunction, but the news article is sketchy). Since Sony is importing upwards of 100,000 consoles per week (according to the Guardian), the economic impact of this order is significant. Sony says its stock held in Europe will last for three weeks.

LG based its claim on patents (allegedly) covering the Blu-ray playback facility of the PS3, but the news article does not give any further details.

As the Spiegel notes, the case may well settle, because in December 2010, Sony filed a patent infringement complaint with the US International Trade Commission against LG, claiming that LG infringed on several Sony patents on mobile phone technology, asking to bar import into the US of LG mobile phones (source). LG already countersued Sony before the International Trade Commission, requesting an import ban of "high margin televisions and game consoles" - presumably containing Blu-ray players and therefore most probably based on the US patents corresponding to the patents the Dutch decision was based on.

Looks like the Hague district court is a lot faster than the International Trade Commission - and given what's at stake for both parties (should a court finally decide that the customs seizure was unjustified, LG is liable for damages), this decision certainly puts new urgency into settlement talks.

Full post as published by IPKat on March 01, 2011 (boomark / email).