Jan. 18, 2007 (China Knowledge) – Tsum (Sichuan) Technology Co. Ltd. is suing a joint venture owned by Sony for unfair competition in the market of digital camera batteries.

Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Court heard the case Wednesday, in which Sony and Shanghai Suoguang Electronics Co. Ltd. are accused of adopting the InfoLITHIUM technology so non-Sony lithium batteries made by other companies cannot be used in Sony cameras.

Tsum wants the two firms to stop using the technology in its digital cameras and batteries. The company also demands compensation of more than RMB 1 million that has been spent to decipher the InfoLITHIUM technology for its batteries to be used in Sony cameras, the most popular camera on the market for the past four years.

Sony denies that Tsum’s argument is against the unfair competition law, arguing that the InfoLITHIUM technology, a patent owned by Sony, merely relates signals between a camera and its battery.

No verdict was reached after the day-long hearing.