Siemens Sues Citizen Watch for Infringing Patent Laws
Siemens sued the Japanese Citizen Watch Company for infringing several patents for white-light emitting diodes used for the background of mobile-phone screens, cameras and car parts.
Osram, based in Munich, asked for a jury trial, an order to stop use of the inventions and unspecified damages in a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware.
“Citizen has continued to show no respect for Osram’s U.S. patent rights” by importing and selling diodes based on patents awarded since 2001, the complaint said.
Citizen Watch’s president, Makoto Umehara, said in August that the Japanese firm is developing products such as LEDs to help boost sales amid price competition. Citizen Watch mostly makes timepieces and industrial machinery.
Citizen Watch officials didn’t immediately return voice and e-mail messages left after business hours.
Shares of Siemens, Europe’s largest engineering company with $107.4 billion in fiscal 2006 sales, rose 24 cents to 72.34 euros today in Germany. They have risen 12 percent in a year.
Both companies have very well established and competing product lines and this lawsuit could offer one an advantage over the other.
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