Little Old Lady Sues Blu-ray

The U.S. International Trade Commission is now launching an investigation into 30 companies which include Sony Corp, Matsushita (Panasonic), Nokia, Motorola, Lite-On, LG, Hitachi, Pioneer, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba and others on possible grounds of patent infringements related to Blu-ray disc technology. This isn't the first time a Blu-ray lawsuit has been filed, not will it likely be the last. We found it funny that Philips wasn't on the list, and happened to be a former employer of Gertrude's and who has established an endowed fund that is used to support the newly-created Philips Electronics Professorship in Columbia’s Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics in The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The commission posted a link to an investigation on its website late yesterday which was titled " Short-Wavelength Light Emitting Diodes, Laser Diodes, and Products Containing Same". An excerpt reads:

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has voted to institute an investigation of certain short-wavelength light emitting diodes, laser diodes, and products containing same. The products at issue in this investigation are short-wavelength (e.g., blue, violet) LEDs and laser diodes that are used in products such as hand-held mobile devices, instrument panels, billboards, traffic lights, HD DVD (sic) players (e.g., Blu-ray disc players), and data storage devices.

The investigation is based on a complaint filed by Gertrude Neumark Rothschild of Hartsdale, NY, on February 20, 2008. The complaint alleges violations of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in the importation into the United States of certain short-wavelength light emitting diodes, laser diodes, and products containing same that infringe a patent owned by Rothschild. The complainant requests that the ITC issue exclusion orders and cease and desist orders.

The original complaint was filed on February 20, 2008 by Gertrude Neumark Rothschild, a retired Columbia University Professor, and involves are short-wavelength light-emitting diodes and laser diodes used in such electronics as handheld mobile devices, traffic lights (of all things) and high-definition DVD players. Gertrude is looking to block imports into the US of products she believes violate her patent.

Considering the ITC can't even properly spell HD-DVD, there might be reason to suspect this is largely... dare I say it: academic. We won't know until later, but you can bet the United States isn't going to bock all imports of traffic lights and Blu-ray players into the US over a laser diode patent claim by a little old lady. A reasonable settlement, however, isn't out of the questions, but we have yet to see the patent in question. In fact, we were unable to locate a patent attached to Professor Gertrude's name at either the USPTO or Google's patent search.