Sony pays off Ampex to end dispute
Sony pays off Ampex to end dispute
Sony has agreed to pay Ampex US$40 million to end its dispute with the company over a patent disagreement over the use of images in digital image storage and retrieval products, such as digital cameras and PDAs.
Ampex has been in active negotiations with Sony and other major manufactures of digital still cameras in an attempt to reach an agreement about receiving royalties on future shipments as well as shipments before the license of digital patents.But this announcement by Sony will mean that Ampex will drop its charges against Sony made to the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. Federal District Court for the District of Delaware.
Sony will now be free to use the patents in its storage products until April 2006. After this time, Sony will be obligated to pay a royalty fee every time the patents are used in the systems.
Ampex already has licensing agreements with Canon Inc. and Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd and also receives royalties from these companies too.
The company has also filed lawsuits against Eastman Kodak Co. and has threatened it with even more litigation if Kodak does not sign up to a license agreement.
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