Judge Samuel Sparks of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas has ruled against (PDF) electronics giant Canon in a patent dispute with Nano-Proprietary over technology planned for use in SED flat-screen televisions.
Canon originally licensed Nano-Proprietary’s technology with an eye towards manufacturing surface-conduction electron emitter displays (SED) for televisions; SED panels have the potential to offer brighter pictures than LCD displays while consuming less power. The problem is that Canon doesn’t actually make televisions, so the company got together with Toshiba (which does make televisions) set up a joint venture called SED Inc., aimed at developing SED TVs.
