| Posted: February 23, 2007 |
Canon's nanotech TV goes down the tube |
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(Nanowerk News) A federal judge has ruled that Canon breached a licensing agreement with a small nanotechnology company, a decision that puts another roadblock into Canon's effort to come out with a whole new style of flat screen TVs.
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Judge Samuel Sparks, with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, ruled in a summary judgment Thursday that Canon violated its agreement with Texas-based Nano-Proprietary by forming a joint television venture with Toshiba.
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Nano-Proprietary licensed its technology for making screens and displays out of carbon nanotubes to Canon in 1999. By bringing in Toshiba as a partner, Nano-Proprietary argued that Canon breached the agreement.
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Canon, and until recently Toshiba, has been trying to bring to market a TV based around surface-conduction electron-emitter displays. In these displays, which area similar to Nano-Proprietary's, tiny particles blast electrons onto a screen and create images. The screens, in the lab at least, have a sharper resolution than LCD or plasma TVs but are far thinner than traditional cathode ray tube TVs. The project, however, has been subject to several delays.
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Damages still need to be determined, a source close to the case said. Canon would also have to negotiate a new agreement if it wants to continue producing these kinds of TVs, assuming the summary judgment ruling stands after any appeals. The case was filed by Nano-Proprietary in 2005.
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The case has played havoc with Toshiba's and Canon's plans to bring these TVs to market. Toshiba showed off a nanotube TV in October in Japan and stated it would come to market with a TV in late 2007. In December, however, the company abruptly cancelled plans to display its nanotube TV at CES in the coming January.
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In late January, Toshiba transferred its interest in the joint venture to another company, SED Inc., which Canon controls.
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Canon and Nano-Proprietary have been in settlement negotiations over the case for the last several weeks. A new licensing agreement between the two companies, therefore, could develop.
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