Sony Faces Blu-ray Patent Challenge

Sony and Target Technology will battle in court over Sony's alleged patent violations

Target Technology is suing three divisions of Sony over alleged patent violations dealing with metallic layers that are used to reflect light in Blu-ray technology. The suit was filed in a Southern Indiana U.S. District Court, with Target Technology (TT) hoping to win a permanent injunction against Sony.

Instead of using gold alloys, the Target Technology patent enables the use of a silver-based reflective layer of optical discs. The silver-based material is reportedly more corrosive-resistant.

Target Technology claims it filed for patent no. 7,018,696 in April 2004, and was approved in March 2006 -- Sony deliberately and willfully infringed on the patent. While the company did not clearly state how Blu-ray technology infringes on Target Technology's patents, it claims that all Blu-ray discs created, sold and marketed by Sony are infringing.

Sony and TT did not disclose the amount in monetary damages TT hopes to win.

If the lawsuit success, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Sony DADC, and Sony Pictures would likely have to find an alternative material, or agree to a licensing deal with Target Technology.

Lawsuits are nothing new to Sony. The company faced a patent lawsuit from Immersion Corporation over the Dual Shock rumble technology used by the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 controllers. Sony paid $97 million in punitive damages. Sony also settled a patent-infringement lawsuit with Kodak, a lawsuit that dealt with 10 Kodak patents.

It is unknown what affect, if any, this will have on the ongoing Blu-ray and HD DVD high-definition content battle.

Reference:Michael Hoffman,dailytech