Days after settling an email-hacking lawsuit with rival camera makers ARRI, Red Digital today sued Sony Corp for patent infringement. The high-tech camera manufacturer’s complaint (read it here) Tuesday claims that three cameras made by defendants Sony Electronics and Sony Corporation of America “all embody the subject matter claimed in Red’s asserted patents without any license.” The federal court filing adds that “Red is informed and believes and thereupon alleges that the sale of Sony’s unauthorized, infringing cameras has resulted in lost sales, reduced the business and profit of Red, and greatly injured the general reputation of Red.” Alleging two instances of “willful and wanton” patent infringement on technology used in its Red One camera, Red is seeking a court order that its patents are “valid and enforceable” as well as an injunction against Sony’s F65, F55 and F5 cameras to stop their further sale and have them destroyed.
Formed by sunglasses and sportswear billionaire Jim Jannard in 1999, Red’s cameras have quickly become an industry standard in the increasingly digitally based movie business, with the company’s Red One and other products used recently to shoot the likes of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the Ridley Scott-directed Prometheus, the History Channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys and the Steven Soderbergh-directed The Informant.
Requesting a jury trial, the plaintiff is also seeking “an assessment and award of damages against Defendants in a amount no less than lost profits or a reasonable royalty” plus a full accounting and all legal fees. Gregory Weeks, Chandler Weeks and Gregory Nelson of Solana Beach firm Weeks Kaufman Nelson & Johnson are representing Red Digital Cinema in the suit.
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