Taiwanese flat-panel TV maker Amtran Technology Co Ltd (瑞軒) said yesterday its affiliate, Vizio Inc, had filed an anti-trust and unfair competition lawsuit against its Japanese rival, Funai Electronics Co, in the US.
The latest legal action by Vizio followed a ruling by the US International Trade Commission’s that invalidated a related patent that Funai had attempted to enforce against Vizio and to review a judge’s prior decision that Vizio had infringed on part of US Patent No. 6,115,074.
Irvine, California-based Vizio alleged that Funai, “acting alone and in concert with others, unlawfully restrained trade and monopolized the market for the licensing of technology used to interpret and retrieve information from a digital television broadcast signal, as well as the market for digital television sets and receivers,” Amtran said, citing Vizio.
Amtran has a 23 percent stake in Vizio and makes flat-screen TVs for the US’s third-largest liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel TV maker.
“The company will safeguard the company’s legal rights and seek any possible means to protect the company’s interest,” Amtran said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Vizio expanded its share of the US LCD market by volume to 12.8 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, up from the third quarter’s 8.4 percent, behind Sony Corp and top-brand Samsung Electronics Co, market researcher DisplaySearch’s latest tallies showed.
Vizio filed the antitrust and unfair competition lawsuit in the US District Court, Central District of California, against Funai and related components, a company statement released earlier this month on its Web site said.
“VIZIO, as America’s HDTV Company, has been instrumental in making high quality flat panel TVs more affordable for Americans. Especially in light of the nation’s digital TV transition, we won’t allow a foreign competitor to divert us from our mission to bring affordable high quality HDTVs to millions of Americans,” Vizio co-founder Laynie Newsome said in a statement.
Amtran jumped 3.2 percent to NT$11.25 yesterday, outperforming the TAIEX’s 0.9 percent rise.
SELL-OFF: Investors expect tariff-driven volatility as the local boarse reopens today, while analysts say government support and solid fundamentals would steady sentiment Local investors are bracing for a sharp market downturn today as the nation’s financial markets resume trading following a two-day closure for national holidays before the weekend, with sentiment rattled by US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement. Trump’s unveiling of new “reciprocal tariffs” on Wednesday triggered a sell-off in global markets, with the FTSE Taiwan Index Futures — a benchmark for Taiwanese equities traded in Singapore — tumbling 9.2 percent over the past two sessions. Meanwhile, the American depositary receipts (ADRs) of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the most heavily weighted stock on the TAIEX, plunged 13.8 percent in
A wave of stop-loss selling and panic selling hit Taiwan's stock market at its opening today, with the weighted index plunging 2,086 points — a drop of more than 9.7 percent — marking the largest intraday point and percentage loss on record. The index bottomed out at 19,212.02, while futures were locked limit-down, with more than 1,000 stocks hitting their daily drop limit. Three heavyweight stocks — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn, 鴻海精密) and MediaTek (聯發科) — hit their limit-down prices as soon as the market opened, falling to NT$848 (US$25.54), NT$138.5 and NT$1,295 respectively. TSMC's
TARIFFS: The global ‘panic atmosphere remains strong,’ and foreign investors have continued to sell their holdings since the start of the year, the Ministry of Finance said The government yesterday authorized the activation of its NT$500 billion (US$15.15 billion) National Stabilization Fund (NSF) to prop up the local stock market after two days of sharp falls in reaction to US President Donald Trump’s new import tariffs. The Ministry of Finance said in a statement after the market close that the steering committee of the fund had been given the go-ahead to intervene in the market to bolster Taiwanese shares in a time of crisis. The fund has been authorized to use its assets “to carry out market stabilization tasks as appropriate to maintain the stability of Taiwan’s
STEEP DECLINE: Yesterday’s drop was the third-steepest in its history, the steepest being Monday’s drop in the wake of the tariff announcement on Wednesday last week Taiwanese stocks continued their heavy sell-off yesterday, as concerns over US tariffs and unwinding of leveraged bets weighed on the market. The benchmark TAIEX plunged 1,068.19 points, or 5.79 percent, to 17,391.76, notching the biggest drop among Asian peers as it hit a 15-month low. The decline came even after the government on late Tuesday authorized the NT$500 billion (US$15.2 billion) National Stabilization Fund (國安基金) to step in to buoy the market amid investors’ worries over tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. Yesterday’s decline was the third-steepest in its history, trailing only the declines of 2,065.87 points on Monday and
RSS