SED TVs to be Produced by Canon Independently

Canon Inc. has decided to buy out the stake owned by Toshiba Corp.'s in their joint venture, SED Inc. This way Canon hopes to put an end to a patent dispute related to the development of a new TV set model. Consequently, Canon will deal with the production of a new type of ultra-thin flat-panel TV completely on its own.

The Canon and Toshiba companies announced the decision to provide an official statement concerning their joint venture but refused to further comment on the case.

Canon and Toshiba have been involved into elaborating SED TVs - the term stands for surface conduction electron-emitter display TV sets. SED TVs feature a few advantageous characteristics - they are thinner and require less energy if compared to LCD (liquid crystal display) and plasma TV sets. The innovative appliances were meant to be put into production at the end of 2007.

The roots of the new imaging technique go back to the 1980s when Canon made the first steps towards SED TVs' development. In 1999 Canon joined its efforts with Toshiba. In 2004 the partners came to forming the SED Inc. Initially the companies agreed upon building a $1.7 billion SED plant. Canon and Toshiba actually intended to invest 100 billion yen from each side to realize their idea of the new plant. Being not so experienced in the field of developing flat screens, the companies still hoped to create a real sensation with the appearance of SED TVs.

However, the Canon and Toshiba companies have not been able to successfully fulfill their plan till the end because of a patent dispute with Nano-Proprietary Inc. In 2005 Nano-Proprietary, headquartered in Texas, filed a lawsuit against Canon. The matter concerned its license agreement with the company. Nano-Proprietary claimed that its patented flat-panel technology did not mean to comprise the Canon's joint venture with Toshiba.

Toshiba's 50 percent stake in SED Inc. joint venture is to be purchased at the price of about 10 billion yen - that is $ 80 million.