Toshiba is suing everyone. "Everyone" is hereby defined as Daewoo, jWIN and Memcorp in the U.S. and various Chinese and H.K. companies useing the Dongguan, GVC, Star Light and Tonic marques abroad.
The complaint, filed with the International Trade Comission and in federal district court, seeks to halt alleged infringement of Toshi-owned patents related to DVD players. It also seeks to prohibit importation to the U.S. of players and recorders and whatnot made by the targeted firms.
Toshiba claims that it "licenses patents essential for meeting DVD format specifications," and that the listed companies haven't licensed them. This appears to imply that Toshiba thinks they get to do the licensing shakedown on anyone who tries to make a DVD player, somehow, but the press release doesn't indicate exactly what the patents cover, so it's impossible to determine whether there is actually something innovative and specific being protected here, or if it's just speculative patent trolling.
In other patent licensing news, the agreement between Nokia and Qualcomm just expired. It's time, as they say, for popcorn and hotdogs.
Press Release [Toshiba]
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