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In a twist, Vizio licenses patents to Sony
October 30th, 2009, 8:28 am · 12 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
CATCHING UP: When it comes to patents, Irvine HDTV company Vizio tends to be on the losing end. Let me clarify this: Patents have made Vizio’s life extremely complicated [Added 9:50 a.m.] .
This is because the company specializes in selling TVs, not developing the next technology. It’s gotten them into legal disputes with companies that own the TV patents. At one point, there was talk of cutting off Vizio’s TV supply because Vizio wasn’t paying licensing fees.
And then late Wednesday, the company announced it was licensing its patents to Sony Corp. What? Vizio owns patents?
“No comment,” the company replied to my question on how many patents Vizio owns [added 9:50 a.m.].
A quick search under “Vizio” at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reveals that indeed, the company owns some patents. At least two: Some sort of memory card design, which was invented by 3 Orange County residents; and one for a TV with detachable speakers, developed by Vizio founder William Wang.
No idea if this new patent portfolio licensed to Sony includes these two patents. More likely, Vizio has done its own hunting down of TV patents and purchased them to compete with rival Funai Electric Co., which acquired digital TV patents from Thompson and RCA and then went on a quest to get licensing fees from TV manufacturers.
In the latest press release, Vizio says it “owns a substantial worldwide patent portfolio directed to digital television technology.”
Vizio goes on to say that it has resolved its dispute over color TV patents owned by Sony.
“Having successfully resolved the disputes, we shall continue to aggressively protect our rights and actively expand VIZIO’s licensing program. As an owner of patent rights and as a licensee of legitimate patent right held by others, VIZIO respects intellectual property and we expect our competitors to do the same,” said Rob Brinkman, Vizio’s vice president of operations and administration in a statement.
Since some of Vizio’s patents will be used in a new line of Vizio TVs, I’m betting Vizio also has some pending patents on its upcoming Internet TV, which fans, geek sites and myself are excited about. The TV will include Wi-Fi and an Ethernet port, plus access to several on-screen widgets like Netflix, Facebook and Twitter.
Recent stories about Vizio:
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VIZIO TVs are adequate at best. Go to any Costco on any given day and see how many VIZIO TVs are getting returned, or better yet, go and compare the VIZIO TVs with the others that Costco sells. Caveat Emptor. VIZIO the company seems shady.
They’re the poor man’s TV. Just the facts, guys.
Johnthebabtist – Vizio is what it is. I have a brand new 55′ Vizio LED LCD HDTV that I bought for my bedroom. I never in my wildest imagination 10 years ago thought I would be watching a 55 inch TV in my own bedroom. Vizio made this possible. I watch a lot of sports, so I have a Pani-Plasma in the Living Room, but it gets hot as a mother in there man.
Vizio fills a nitch that allows all types of people to own something nice. It’s an american company (though most parts are from elsewhere), and the product is worth the price. You can go get your 52″ Sony for 2500 and have the same brightness, contrast, refresh rate, etc. etc. and I’ll keep the extra GRAND in my pocket. Vizio rocks!
I hope guys like you who keeps knocking Vizo keep shelling out the big bucks. Our economy needs more people like you. As for me, I’m keeping some in my pocket for rainy day fund.
they are not all that great, not even for a poor man. My sharp looks much better than their most expensive one and costs much less..Sony will no doubt enhance Vizio products..
My friend has one, and the TV is so blurry, even with cable. I don’t have cable and my Samsung gets a crystal clear picture, even before HD TV was implemented. I would not buy one of these ever.
They make a decent product. The majority of Vizio internals / glass are sourced from LG co. Very similar to Syntax Olivia based in Ontario, Ca. When I toured that plant it had thousands of LG panel boxes on the assembly line. All they did was punch up the video processor & re-frame the TV. Yet bankruptcy took Olevia down… Will see what happens to Vizio, good product for our current economy budgets…
I don’t know what you guys are talking about. I have a 2-year-old Vizio 42″ LCD in the living room, and the picture quality in HD and other modes (including VGA) is just fine. The HD looks like you could reach in and touch something.
Great price too. Twice as much for a major Asian brand? Rather spend it on vacation than bragging rights. See ya in Fiji.
I agree with Mike. I’m not really interested in paying twice the price for a comparable product. Possibly, the “fuzzy” comments were made by people who were not watching HD channels. And, of course, smaller TV’s (even ancient tv’s) have sharper pictures on regular channels than do the larger tv’s. But you can’t beat the HD picture on our tv. We are pretty picky and LOVE our Vizio!!
The Vizio VP505XVT Plasma TV was only on the market very briefly. It was receiving near excellent reviews for its picture quality and its HQV Silicon Optix processor. It was relatively inexpensive at Costco or Sam’s Club at around $1199 versus its $1499 list price. They flew out of Costco. Don’t know why they discontinued it without an explanation……….
Plasma technology is long gone. It’s pretty much all LCD or LED’s now.
Bought a Vizio from Costco two years ago for the bedroom. The HD was great, but the regular resolution was terrible. Took it back, bought a Sony.