RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY – The Funai Corporation announced today that an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) of the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) issued, on November 25, 2008, a Recommended Determination On Remedy And Bonding as to Funai Electric’s and Funai Corporation, Inc.’s claims that Vizio, TPV, Amtran, Proview, Syntax-Brillian and other respondents infringe Funai’s U.S. Patent No. 6,115,074, and also issued a public version of such Determination on December 16, 2008.

As we previously announced in our press release of November 19, 2008, the ALJ found in its Initial Determination issued on November 17, 2008 that certain models of the following brand names infringe the ’074 patent: Vizio, Ölevia, Proview, AOC, and Envision, among others. In view of its Determination, the ALJ recommended that:
  • the ITC issue an exclusion order barring the respondents from importing infringing products into the United States.   • the ITC issue a cease and desist order to prevent the respondents from the sale or distribution of infringing products in the United States.
  • the ITC require the respondents to post a bond of 100% of the entered value of the infringing products during the Presidential review period (within 60 days after a final determination).

The ALJ’s Initial Determination is subject to review by the full ITC Commission and, if reviewed, a final determination from the Commission is expected to be issued by March 2009. Funai is committed to respect the intellectual property rights of other parties and will continue to vigorously protect its intellectual property rights against infringers. Funai has over twenty licensees of its digital television patent portfolio. Funai’s portfolio includes patents related to the ATSC standards(*) as well as other digital television technologies. The Federal Communications Commission’s regulations mandate that television sets sold in the United States must be compatible with certain ATSC standards.

- Following is a list of the current 11 respondents:
Vizio, Inc., formerly known as V. Inc. (US)
Amtran Technology Co., Ltd (Taiwan)
Proview International Holdings, Ltd. (Hong Kong)
Proview Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (China)
Proview Technology, Inc. (US)
TPV Technology, Ltd. (Hong Kong)
TPV International (USA), Inc. (US)
Top Victory Electronics (Taiwan) Co., Ltd (Taiwan)
Envision Peripherals, Inc.(US)
Syntax-Brillian Corporation (US)
Taiwan Kolin Co., Ltd (Taiwan)

Information in the press releases is current on the date of the press announcement, but is subject to change without prior notice.

(*)The digital television system used in the United States is described by a set of standards published by the Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC).

INQUIRIES ABOUT THIS PRESS RELEASE
Ernie Padalino
(201) 727-4102