Hitachi yesterday announced it has filed a patent infringement suit against three Taiwan-based monitor manufacturers, including Amtran Technology, Tatung and Proview Technology. According to Hitachi, the manufacturers produce and market monitors without having entered into license agreement with Hitachi, although it did not state which patented technology was infringed.

Both Tatung and Proview did not comment on the lawsuit, as the companies have not received any related documents.

However, Tatung stated that most of its monitors business is ODM-based and its own-brand shipments to US market only account for a small proportion of its overall output. Therefore, the lawsuit will not significantly affect the company’s sales.

Amtran, on the other hand, stated it would continue to discuss a possible patent license agreement with Hitachi and is willing to pay the patent fee according to the results, company spokesman Scottie Chiu said.

Chui also indicated that Amtran only exports around 1.6-1.8 million LCD monitors to the US market, and that only accounts for 10-20% of the company’s export sales. However, the company’s shipments to Japan account for nearly 50% of the total, so the company is expected to reach a settlement with Japan-based Hitachi.