On July 8, 2009, the United States Customs and Border Protection agency (“CBP”) issued a ruling in agreement with VIZIO that all current models of VIZIO televisions do not infringe U.S. Patent No. 6,115,074 (‘074) held by Funai Electric Company, enabling VIZIO to continue importing its televisions without interruption.
Click here for VIZIO's press release.
Previously, in ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-617, on April 10, 2009, the International Trade Commission issued a limited exclusion order (click here for a copy), ordering VIZIO and other companies not to import any infringing products.
Although we have not seen the CBP decision letter, it appears that CBP essentially rules that VIZIO's new, re-designed products do not infringe Funai's '074 patent, and thus are not within the scope of the ITC's limited exclusion order.
The CBP ruling is even more remarkable because the '074 patent was purportedly an essential patent covering an ATSC standard that every Digital TV sold in the US must comply with under a FTC requirement. Therefore, by this ruling, it appears that CBP believes that the '074 patent is not an essential patent to the ATSC standard.
We at Mei & Mark LLP have a full analysis on the impact of this CBP ruling on the DTV industry. Please contact Lei Mei, Esq. at mei@meimark.com for more information.
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