On August 29, 2017, Sharp Corporation and its US sales company Sharp Electronics Corporation (SEC), under the US Customs Act, petitioned the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) to investigate infringements upon Sharp Corporation wireless LAN patents by Hisense Co., Ltd, Hisense Electric Co., Ltd., Hisense USA Corporation, Hisense International (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd., Hisense Electronics Manufacturing Company of America Corporation, Hisense USA Multimedia R&D Center Inc., and Hisense Inc. (hereinafter, the Hisense Group).
Sharp Corporation and SEC requested the investigation after finding that Hisense Group smart TVs sold in the US market infringe upon Sharp’s wireless LAN patents and that the Hisense Group is importing and selling the TVs using the patented Sharp technology in the US.
Sharp Corporation and SEC are petitioning the USITC to do the following:
- • Determine the infringement upon Sharp patents by the Hisense Group.
- • Issue a limited exclusion order on the import of the products that infringe on the Sharp patents.
- • Order the Hisense Group to cease and desist the relevant products that have already been imported.
The patents cover the following:
- • Technology for receivers that receive OFDM signals transmitted using single or multiple-frequency channels.
- • Technology for a sub-carrier allocation method of a transmitter that transmits OFDM signals using multiple-frequency sub-carriers.
On July 17, 2017 (US eastern time), Sharp Corporation filed a patent infringement suit against Hisense Electric Co., Ltd., Hisense USA Corporation, and Hisense Electronics Manufacturing Company of America Corporation in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for the sales of smart TVs.