Foxconn subsidiary takes on Japanese rivals in Delaware

Managing IP Correspondent

June 27 2014

Foxconn, a Taiwanese company famous for manufacturing products in southern China for Apple, has revealed that it is suing three Japanese businesses for patent infringement in the US

Foxconn affiliate MiiCs & Partners has filed lawsuits against Toshiba, Funai Electric and Mitsubishi Electric in Delaware, accusing them of infringing a number of Thin Film Transistor patents used in LCD display products such as televisions, monitors, notebooks, tablets and smart phones.

The company is being advised by Philadelphia IP boutique Panitch, Schwarze, Belisario & Nadel.

Despite coming to international prominence as an OEM business, Foxconn has developed a sizeable IP portfolio. The company’s mainland Chinese subsidiaries are among the biggest recipients of patents granted to Chinese companies by the USPTO. Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry, for example, was 37th for US patent issuance in 2013, with 922 patents, up from 40th place in 2012, when it received 782.

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