AP News, January 13th, 2007
Japanese electronics maker Canon will take full control of a joint venture for flat panel TVs using a new technology called SED, the company said Friday, in a move aimed at an early settlement of a legal dispute in the United States.
Canon Inc. will turn SED Inc., an equally owned venture with Toshiba Corp., into a wholly owned subsidiary, effective Jan. 29, the two companies said in a statement.
The decision was prompted by litigation against Canon underway in the U.S. over SED technology, a new type of flat-panel display jointly developed with Toshiba, the statement said.
SED, which stands for surface-conduction electron-emitter display, panels have a reputation for delivering clear and vivid images because their light-beaming technology is similar to that for old-style cathode-ray tube TVs.
Nano-Proprietary Inc., a U.S. technology company that has licensed a key SED technology to Canon, claims SED Inc. is not covered under the agreement because the company is not a Canon subsidiary.
Canon decided to purchase all outstanding shares held by Toshiba in the joint venture "based on the assumption of prolonged litigation pending against Canon in the United States with respect to SED technology," the companies said.
The purchase price is estimated at about 10 billion yen ($82.64 million), the Nikkei business newspaper said in its evening editions, citing unidentified sources.
Canon and Toshiba will produce SED television sets in Japan later this year as originally planned, although Canon will reassess its future mass-production plans for SED panels, the statement said.
Though the joint venture, set up in 2004, will be fully taken over by Canon under an agreement between the two companies, Toshiba is planning to procure SED panels from Canon in the future and assemble its own SED TVs, said Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori.
Toshiba shares, which have made some fluctuations over the past year, closed up 0.86 percent to 819 yen ($6.77) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Canon shares, which have risen about 20 percent over the pas six months, climbed 1.24 percent at 6,540 yen ($54.05).
