LG Electronics Wins, Sharp Loses In LCD TVs

One day after the U.S. banned the import of certain Sharp products containing liquid crystal displays, the result of a patent dispute, LG Electronics said Thursday that it expects to sell as many as 5 million LCD televisions that use light-emitting diodes in 2010.

Wednesday the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that LCD technology used in Sharp TVs, computer displays and other products violated a patent owned by Samsung Electronics. The ITC then banned the import of certain Sharp goods containing the disputed technology.

The ruling stemmed from a complaint filed by South Korea-based Samsung in December 2007 that Sharp had violated four patents. The ITC ruled that only one patent was violated.

Japan-based Sharp sold about 9.4 percent of all LCD televisions shipped in North America in this year's first quarter, said an Associated Press story, quoting statistics provided by market-research firm iSuppli.

Thursday LG Electronics introduced a line of LCD televisions that use LEDs as their light source and the company has set a goal of selling as many as 5 million of the next-generation TVs worldwide in 2010, according to a Reuters story. That's an ambitious goal given that the LED-based LCD TVs can cost between 50 percent and 70 percent more than standard LCD TVs.

The South Korean-based manufacturer also said it's on track to sell 18 million LCD TV sets worldwide this year, the Reuters story said, which would make it the world's second largest marketer of LCD TVs behind Samsung Electronics and ahead of third-place manufacturer Sony.