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SED has been delayed a few times since 2005 for different reasons, but more
recently, in March 06, Canon and Toshiba delayed the SED launch of SED TVs to
3Q07 due to cost reasons compared to competitor flat-panel technologies.
CES 2007
Texas-based Nano-Proprietary filed a lawsuit with Canon claiming that its 1999
license agreement with Canon did not include Toshiba, who owns half of the join
venture (SED Ltd). At that moment, it was speculated that it might cause Canon to
buy Toshiba's stake in the join effort.
Nano-Propietary terminated the license under a breach of contract condition, which
placed under review the Toshiba plans to build a $1.49 billion factory this year in
Himeji, Japan, for the panels to be produced there. Canon was considering
manufacturing the displays on a smaller scale on its own, to meet a launch planned
for 4Q07 in Japan.
Under the situation, the planned 55-inch SED television display at CES 2007 was
scratched.
Canon said that, regardless of the outcome, they might supply SED televisions to
Toshiba for that company to sell them under the Toshiba brand.
Feb 07
However, Canon unfortunately lost the license for nano-technology implementation
on their planned SED panel manufacturing.
The Texas court decided that Canon has infringed the license agreement with Texasbased
Nano-Propietary who won the $5.6 million lawsuit on the basis that Canon was
not permitted to share the license to use the technology with other companies, like
Toshiba, which was not a Canon subsidiary, and “Canon's decision in January to buy
out Toshiba's stake in the unit came too late”, said Texas Judge Sam Sparks.
A new (more costly) agreement was expected to take place between the two
companies, and between Nano-proprietary and Toshiba, and Samsung, and any
other companies “if they are interested in licensing the technology in a non-exclusive
or exclusive basis” Nano-Proprietary said.
This caused a halt on Canon’s plans for mass production SED displays on 4Q07,
although it could be limited to a reduced distribution in Japan.
But after months into the litigation, the court ruled that the joint venture with
Toshiba was not a Canon subsidiary.
The court has a pending trial decision to make sometime after April 2, 2007
regarding Nano-Proprietary's claims that Canon committed fraud extending the
license to Toshiba and possibly other Japanese companies.
Applied Nanotech
As mentioned in the 2006 report, the Texan company has created a 25-inch
prototype TV based on carbon nanotubes, claimed to be brighter and crisper than
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