LG and Sony sign a deal to prevent a ban on the Playstation 3

ELECTRONICS GIANTS LG and Sony sat around a table and decided to stop bickering over claims of patent infringement.

LG had claimed that Sony's Bravia televisions and its Playstation 3 games console had infringed its patents, even managing to get a temporary ban on the import of Playstation 3 consoles into the Netherlands. In the US, LG tried to get the International Trade Commission to sign off on a US-wide import ban on Sony Bravia televisions and Playstation 3 consoles, but that never happened.

As is customary in these disputes, Sony fired back claiming that LG's televisions and mobile phones had infringed its patents.

The whole mess blew up after LG and Sony did not renew an existing licensing agreement, suggesting that there might have been some crossover in technologies incorporated by the two firms. However, after six months of wrangling, the two firms have signed a "memorandum of understanding" or more accurately, a reality check.

The terms of the memorandum of understanding between LG and Sony have not been disclosed, though both firms filed requests to dismiss their lawsuits that were pending in a federal court. µ