Recent Patent Disputes Between the US and Japan

March 1992

* Honeywell settles autofocus patent-infringement case with Minolta for $127.5 million; the company threatens to sue other Japanese camera makers.

* Loral Fairchild sues Sony, Matsushita, and Canon alleging infringement of patents on a light-sensitive semiconductor used in camcorders. May 1992

* Sega agrees to pay American inventor Jan Coyle $43 million to settle suit over video-display technology used in video games. June 1992

* Japanese carmakers say they're negotiating with American inventor Jerome Remelson over a patent on technology used by robots in car manufacturing.

* Wang Laboratories sues Mitsubishi and others charging they infringed its patent on a type of semiconductor memory module. Mitsubishi countersues.

* Texas Instruments sues Sanyo alleging infringement of a patent on the basic design of integrated circuits. July 1992

* Sanyo countersues Texas Instruments. August 1992

* Honeywell announces out-of-court settlement with five Japanese companies over autofocus technology likely to total millions of dollars.

* United States court recommends Matsushita pay $21 million on allegations of violating patents belonging to a US computer fan maker, Comair Rotron.