Report: US court steps into Samsung-Sharp spat

A U.S. trade court has agreed to look into Samsung's claims that Japanese rival Sharp had infringed its patents relating to LCD (liquid crystal display) technology.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) said in a statement on its Web site that it has "voted to institute an investigation" into Samsung's complaint of patent infringement by Sharp, filed Dec. 1.

The Korean company's allegations, according to the statement, are made against Sharp Corporation of Japan and two of its American subsidiaries.

Legal disputes between Samsung, the global market leader in LCD TVs, and fourth-ranked Sharp are not new, according to Reuters. The news agency reported Thursday that the Japanese vendor earlier this month won an LCD patent lawsuit against Samsung in the Netherlands.

As part of the ruling, the court ordered Samsung's Dutch subsidiary to freeze imports and sales of its LCD panels and LCD TVs that tap the disputed technology. Samsung was also instructed to remove the products from store shelves.

The U.S. ITC, Reuters added, also ruled in favor of Sharp in mid-November, ordering Samsung to stop selling in the United States products that infringe Sharp's patents. In addition, the pair have ongoing LCD patent-related legal tussles in Japan, Germany and other parts of the United States, according to the report.

Both Samsung and Sharp are also embroiled in a legal suit brought on last month by Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia, which has accused several LCD vendors of conspiring to inflate prices of displays.