Some Sharp Corp. liquid crystal display televisions and computer monitors should be banned from the United States because they infringe on a patent owned by Samsung Electronics Co., the U.S. International Trade Commission said Wednesday.
Samsung, the world's biggest maker of LCDs, won a ruling by the U.S. trade agency that the Sharp products infringe one of its patents. The Washington-based agency said a second patent wasn't infringed, overturning a judge's decision on that issue.
The ban, posted in a notice Wednesday, is subject to presidential review and can be appealed to a court.
South Korea's Samsung and Sharp have been fighting in the U.S. and Japan over patented technology for the displays. Earlier this month, a trade judge said Samsung TVs, monitors and professional displays infringe on four Sharp patents and recommended Samsung TVs also be banned from the U.S.
In a notice posted on its Web site Wednesday, the ITC said unlicensed Sharp LCD devices, including display panels and modules, and LCD TVs made overseas that use Samsung's patented invention should be banned from the U.S.
In its complaint, filed in December, Samsung named models in the Aquos line of high-definition TVs as among those made and sold by Osaka-based Sharp that violated the patent.
U.S. President Barack Obama can overturn the ban on policy grounds, and the underlying patent case can be appealed to a U.S. court that specializes in patent law.
Miyuki Nakayama, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman for Sharp, said the company is "considering our response, including appealing against the decision." Chris Goodhart, a Samsung spokeswoman, said the company has no comment.
Samsung had initially claimed infringement of four patents. The patent it won on was issued in 2004 and is titled "Liquid Crystal Display having wide viewing angle."