Gemstar sued both General Instrument and Pioneer today, just in time for the Western Cable Show. It looks like they have lots of big-name licensees. Who is missing from the list besides GI and PIO -- TCI, Echostar, Pace, and probably others? I guess this means that Pioneer is or will soon be a major settop player. Below is the press release about the Pioneer suit....
Gemstar Files Patent-Infringement Suit Against Pioneer
PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 1, 1998--Gemstar International Group Ltd. (Nasdaq:GMSTF) Tuesday announced that it has filed a patent-infringement suit against Pioneer Electronics Corp. (NYSE:PIO), Pioneer North America Inc. and Pioneer New Media Technologies Inc. in the Federal District Court, Central District of California.
The suit claims, among other matters, that Pioneer willfully infringed certain Gemstar intellectual property, specifically two of the so-called Levine patents, by virtue of Pioneer's deployment, marketing, offers to sell and sale of its cable set-top boxes containing an unlicensed interactive program guide.
The Levine patents broadly cover, among others, an interactive program guide using locally stored or cached data. Gemstar is seeking an injunction and monetary damages.
"Gemstar continues its policy of vigorously enforcing its intellectual property," said Henry C. Yuen, chief executive officer of Gemstar. "Gemstar will diligently prosecute infringers of its patents, trademarks, copyrights and other intellectual property, and will seek redress to the fullest extent of the law."
Gemstar develops, markets and licenses proprietary technologies and systems aimed at making technology user-friendly for consumers.
Gemstar's technology and intellectual property are licensed to major companies in the consumer-electronics, satellite, cable and personal-computer industries, including Aiwa, Akai, Cox, Daewoo, Funai, GTE, Hitachi, Hughes Network Systems, JVC, LG Electronics (Goldstar), Matsushita (Panasonic, Quasar), Microsoft Corp., Mitsubishi, Orion, Philips (Magnavox, Philips), Samsung, Sanyo, Scientific-Atlanta, Sharp, Shintom, Sony, Southern New England Telephone, Thomson Multimedia (GE, Proscan, RCA, Thomson), Time Warner, Toshiba, Uniden and Zenith.
Gemstar has more than 60 issued U.S. patents in the general area of audiovisual technologies with more than 1,000 claims, and more than 70 foreign patents with more than 1,000 claims. The company continues to pursue a worldwide patent-prosecution program and has more than 130 pending U.S. patent applications and more than 160 pending foreign patent applications.
Gemstar's VCR Plus+ instant programming system is a world standard for VCR programming. VCR Plus+ allows a user to record a television show simply by entering a number -- the PlusCode number -- printed in television-program guides. The PlusCode numbers are published by more than 1,800 newspapers and television-program guides worldwide, with a combined circulation of more than 330 million.
The VCR Plus+ system has been licensed to virtually every major television and VCR manufacturer and is now available in 40 countries and on six continents, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America and South Africa.
Gemstar is a leading provider of electronic program-guide services, which allow a user to view a television-program guide on-screen, obtain details about a show, sort shows by themes or categories, and select shows for tuning or recording, all through the remote control.
In the United States, data for Gemstar's electronic program-guide services are carried on the ABC, Fox, CBS, NBC, UPN and PBS networks by hundreds of over-the-air broadcast stations and on a number of cable networks.
Gemstar's electronic program guide has been built into a number of models of new televisions, VCRs and TV/VCR combination units. Gemstar's electronic program guide is also licensed to cable, telco and MMDS service providers, and has been integrated into direct- broadcast-satellite receivers, digital and advanced analog cable set-top boxes, PCTV, Internet devices and computer operating systems such as Windows 98.
Except for historical information contained here, the matters discussed in this news release contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including the timely availability and acceptance of new products, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the management of growth, and the other risks detailed from time to time in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 1998, and on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 1998.
Note to Editors: GUIDE Plus+, VCR Plus+ and PlusCode are registered trademarks of Gemstar. Other product names used herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies.
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CONTACT:
Gemstar International Group Ltd., Pasadena
Sallie Manson, 626/792-5700 |
