Patent stolen, flat screen engineer says

NEW YORK, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- A U.S. engineer filed suit against Japan's Nikon and several television makers for allegedly infringing on a flat-screen TV patent he developed 18 years ago.

Kanti Jain says he sent Nikon a letter detailing a flat-screen TV concept in 1990, ABC News reported Monday.

Nikon has admitted it reviewed Jain's patent. But, the U.S. Patent Office ruled in Nikon's favor in a preliminary hearing, saying Jain's patent was an old idea, ABC reported.

Nikon did mention Jain's idea in its own patent filing, but the mention is a formality, Nikon attorney Jack Londen said.

"It's your obligation to tell the Patent Office about other patents that have been filed. It doesn't mean they're valid. It doesn't mean they're infringed," Londen said.

"You have to do 50 things to make an LCD panel that his machines can't do. We do it differently," he said.

Jain's attorney Chad Johnson claimed "it was only when Jain's patent was delivered to them that they realized this was a eureka moment."

"We are going to get what we deserve. I am not angry. I'm determined," Jain said.