Ruh roh, Sony. In retaliation to patent infringement claims Sony has made against LG, the latter is pleading with the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban imports of PlayStation 3 consoles, Bloomberg reports. The reason? Also related to patent infringement. According to LG’s complaint, all Sony products with a Blu-ray player, including the PlayStation 3 console, infringe on four of LG’s patents. Can LG really get the PS3 banned from the U.S.?
We have a hard time seeing that situation play out, though as Bloomberg points out, the ITC does have the authority to block imports of products that run afoul of another company’s patents. In this case, LG is also accusing Sony’s Bravia HDTVs of infringing on four other patents relating to receiving and processing signals, so there’s quite a bit at stake here.
Perhaps a bit of payback on LG’s part, Sony in late December filed a complaint with the ITC alleging that LG phones infringe on seven of Sony’s patents. Phones listed in that suit include the Lotus Elite, Neon, Remarq, Rumor 2, and Xenon.
