VIZIO sure ends up in a whole lot of legal battles, but one way or another, it always seems to find its way out in the long run. Such is the case once again today, as the current LCD TV king has apparently said all the right things to Sony. If you'll recall, Sony (along with a slew of others) filed suit against Vizio awhile back over patent licensing concerns, but now it seems the two have reached a mutual agreement to use each other's technologies without bickering over who owns what. The release on the matter states that Sony "has become a licensee under VIZIO's patent portfolio," and that "VIZIO now is a licensee under Sony's color television patent portfolio." Who knows how much under-the-table cash and shaky promises had to be passed along in order to make everyone happy, but hey, a problem solved is a problem solved.

[Image courtesy of TooMuchNick / WireImage]

Update: Sony's response to all of this is after the break, courtesy of a company spokesperson who pinged us directly.

When it rains it pours -- right on the heels of the punishing blow dealt to RealDVD, the money-laden Kaleidescape crowd suffered its own setback at the hands of the law. You just know that the DVD CCA (Copy Control Association) appealed the 2007 ruling that allowed Kaleidescape owners to rip DVDs to their media servers, and yesterday a California Appeals Court overturned that ruling. Next stop -- the Santa Clara Superior Court, which could place an injunction on Kaleidescape if the appeal is upheld. It's not over yet, but we're prepping the soundboard with ominous music, boos and noisy hand-wringing. Whatever (and whenever) the outcome, we can only hope that Blu-ray's Managed Copy comes to the scene sooner rather than later and settles this issue for our beloved HD content

Something tells us Kaleidescape has a man (or woman, to be fair) on the inside, else United States District Court Judge Marilyn Patel is just downright trifilin'. In every visible way, RealNetworks' proposed RealDVD player was exactly what Kaleidescape was, but for people with annual salaries far less than $9,854,392,220. Regardless of our opinion, a preliminary injunction has just been passed down from The Almighty in the robe, which blocks the sale of the RealDVD software here in the US. The six major movie studies filed the suit last September, alleging that it "illegally violated their right to restrict the use of their movies in digital form." Evidently those that matter agree. A RealNetworks spokesperson took the time to vent their feelings on the whole ordeal, and since we know you're curious, we've pasted it below for your convenience.

We are disappointed that a preliminary injunction has been placed on the sale of RealDVD. We have just received the Judge's detailed ruling and are reviewing it. After we have done so fully, we'll determine our course of action and will have more to say at that time.

[Via Electronista]

It looks like at least one round of the battle between Funai and VIZIO is drawing to a close, and it's a big win for VIZIO. U.S. Customs has ruled that all current VIZIO TVs do not infringe on Funai's Patent 6,115,074 -- which was rejected by the Patent Office a few months ago. With the USPTO and US Customs now on the same page, all the bureaucratic checkmarks are in place and VIZIO TVs can freely enter the US on their immigrant-inspired journey to homes all across this fair land. Next up is VIZIO's countersuit against Funai -- with drama like this unfolding between TV manufacturers, who needs an actual TV for entertainment?

When it comes to Blu-ray deck price decreases, we'll take whatever we can get -- especially with the naysaying that seems to follow the format these days. So file the fact that Zoran and DTS have put their legal disputes behind them, and Zoran plans to have single-chip solutions for Blu-ray decoding with support for DTS' codecs shipping by the end of the year under "more competition has to be good." Zoran filed suit against DTS back in October, claiming that the company wasn't being fair in its codec licensing terms; not surprisingly, Zoran wasn't granted a license. But the suits ironed it all out, and after paying out a settlement that will have a "modestly positive" impact on DTS' financials, Zoran is the latest licensee to the DTS codecs.

Just when it looked like the long-running patent dispute was tipping Vizio's way, the U.S. International Trade Commission has ruled in favor of Funai, issuing an order to block imports of Vizio HDTVs. According to Bloomberg the ban is still eligible to be reviewed by President Obama while the patent case itself is still being reviewed by an appeals court, but if Vizio wants to keep its shipments flowing it will have to post a bond of $2.50 per television. We've put a call in to Vizio to find out what this means for its immediate future -- and that sweet LED backlit display from CES -- and confirmed that while this order goes into effect immediately, you should still be able to find sets on shelves and they will continue to do business as usual during the presidential review period, but feel free to read its press release in response after the break for more details.

Samsung and Sharp, like any good pair of competitors, have been slapping each other around for years now. Specifically, Sharp tagged Samsung with an LCD patent infringement lawsuit back in the latter half of 2007, and at long last the courts have made a decision. In short, Samsung wins. The Wall Street Journal has an exceptionally brief writeup noting that Sammy has declared victory in the case as a Tokyo court "upheld a Samsung Electronics' countersuit filed last June that claimed that Sharp LCD TV products infringed on Samsung's patents." There's no word on what affect this will have on either firm, but feel free to cheer / cry at the office today in order to truly show your fanboy colors at work.

Verizon Communications has just been slapped with a lawsuit from New Jersey's Attorney General, who alleges that the company engaged in "deceptive and misleading" sales, billing and customer service practices related to its FiOS services. Mind you, this is far from the first time we've heard outrage over poor FiOS service, but Verizon New Jersey president Dennis Bone asserts that the majority of the issues raised by the attorney general are "related primarily to the start-up of the FiOS business nearly two years ago in New Jersey and have been largely addressed." Of course, just because things are sailing smoothly now doesn't mean that justice shouldn't be served, but we will concur that we've heard far less grumbling of late compared to years ago. Who knew offering up free TVs to get folks to sign up would lead to this much turmoil?

One has to wonder: is this cat fight finally nearing the end? Shortly after VIZIO hit Funai with an antitrust and unfair lawsuit (not to mention pleading with the FCC to expedite the hand slapping), said outfit has just announced the "final rejection" of all claims in Funai's controversial patent. As the story goes, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) has "issued a second rejection of all claims in Funai Electric Co.'s United States Patent No. 6,115,074," leading Rob L. Brinkman, VIZIO's VP Operations and Administration, to say the following: "Based on this final rejection by the USPTO, we believe that Funai's '074 patent will ultimately be deemed invalid." We've seen no reaction from Funai thus far, but it seems like sneaking away to the nearest corner may actually be best considering the circumstances.

Just what Toshiba needed, right? As if the economy wasn't hammering the company's bottom line badly enough, United States Magistrate Judge Steven M. Gold of the Eastern District of New York has just entered a decision that'll force it to pay up over $1 million in order to settle a class action lawsuit it just lost. Originally filed in 2007, the suit alleged "that the lamps of certain Toshiba DLP televisions were susceptible to premature failure causing purchasers to repeatedly expend hundreds of dollars for replacement bulbs, which allegedly suffered from the same defect." After a thorough investigation, it was found that Tosh would be responsible for reimbursing those who purchased a bulb replacement that failed prematurely, and the warranty on replacement bulbs has been pushed from six months to a full year. Naturally, the law firm representing the 265,000 or so affected individuals was quite stoked with the outcome, as should you be if you're in that mix.

Whoa, Nelly. Looks like we've got ourselves an old fashioned paper fight going on here. Just days after VIZIO filed an antitrust lawsuit against Funai, the former company has now taken things a step further by requesting that the FCC require Funai to "comply with patent licensing conditions imposed by the FCC when it adopted the digital television standards for the United States." Additionally, VIZIO has asked the entity to "order Funai to cease its unreasonable and discriminatory patent enforcement policies while the FCC considers a pending petition for declaratory ruling." There's no word on whether the FCC is open to oblige, but you can rest assured that there are more than a few bitter-beer faces clogging up corner offices at Funai Electronics.

Aw, snap! Just months after Funai took the reins from Philips in North America, along comes a lawsuit for its lawyers to deal with. VIZIO, still feeling proud after its all-business Super Bowl ad, has thrown a potent antitrust and unfair competition lawsuit in Funai's direction. The outfit alleges 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." Specifically, VIZIO seems perturbed that Funai inappropriately acquired the rights to one single US patent, and ever since it has "unfairly discriminated against VIZIO in the licensing and enforcement" of said patent to the "detriment of trade and commerce." There's no mention of how many bills VIZIO thinks will fix the problem, but Funai better not try filling stacks of hundies with Washingtons in between.

[Image courtesy of TooMuchNick / WireImage]

Industry big shots Walmart and Netflix have both been named in a consumer lawsuit which accuses them of "trying to build a monopoly for online DVD rentals." The complaint, which was filed by San Francisco-based Andrea Resnick in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that both firms "unreasonably restrained trade, sending up prices." As the story goes, the duo decided back in 2005 that Wally World would shut down its online rental business and refer those customers to Netflix, and the plaintiffs allege that these actions would end up promoting Walmart's DVD movie sales. Netflix spokespeople declined to comment, though Walmart spokeswoman Daphne Moore did acknowledge that it had received the gripe and would respond to the court at the appropriate time.

There may have been a long shot in Hades that Sharp and LG would navigate their way out of paying a full $120 million / $400 million fine for their respective roles in a recent LCD price fixing bust, but that shot has apparently failed. It was announced this week that both firms would indeed be sentenced to pay the full fine "for their role in a price-fixing scheme that forced millions of US consumers to overpay for gadgets using liquid-crystal displays." The other culprit, Taiwan's Chunghwa Picture Tubes, has already agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and will be sentenced in January. Happy holidays, huh?

We're hard pressed to think of a display-related story that has lingered on longer than SED (well over four years at last count), and believe it or not, this still isn't apt to be the last you hear of it. If you'll recall, Canon recently declared victory after winning a lawsuit against Applied Nanotech that was previously holding it back from making progress, and now Applied Nanotech has waved the final white flag by giving up its right to appeal. Comically enough, it may actually be too late for Canon to even salvage the win, with president Tsuneji Uchida noting that "at times like this, new display products are not introduced much because people would laugh at them." Shh... nobody tell him the world's been laughing at SED for years.

[Via OLED-Display]