Cryptography software provider Certicom has initiated litigation in the Eastern District of Texas against Sony, for patent infringement related to the AACS content protection used in Blu-Ray. In its filing, Certicom alleged infringement concerning two United States patents used in the content protection technologies found in Sony products.

The patents-in-suit are two of Certicom's fundamental patents used in consumer electronics, in particular its version of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) public-key scheme. In its complaint, Certicom alleges Sony has, and continues to, infringe, contribute to and induce the infringement of Certicom's patents by making, using, importing, offering for sale and selling their products in the U.S. without being licensed by Certicom to do so. These patents are related to content protection technologies, including Advanced Access Control System (AACS) used in Blu-ray and Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) used in wired and wireless distribution of compression audio and video. Products affected include Playstation 3, DVD players, VAIO personal computers and certain high definition TV models and audio equipment.

"We have invested heavily in ECC research and development over many years and feel strongly that our shareholders deserve fair value from companies using our patented technology," said Bernard Crotty, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We prefer to resolve these issues through commercial discussions and without litigation. However, at this point we are left with no alternative but to file suit."

Sony has not made any official statement on the suit.

Certicom has filed the related ECC patent at the US Patent and Trademark Office in 2000.