Samsung SDI files patent suit against Matsushita

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung SDI Co, the world's top plasma display panel maker, said on Wednesday it filed suit against Matsushita Electric Industrial, saying the Japanese firm infringed its patents.

The lawsuit comes as an industry-wide spending spree has led to an oversupply of flat panels, pushing prices down sharply and sending global PDP makers' profits tumbling.

Samsung said in a statement it filed the lawsuit at a US federal court in Los Angeles, claiming Matsushita violated nine patents relating to plasma display panels.

"We filed with a US federal court as the (United States) is the biggest market for digital televisions and as we can expect a fair ruling outside South Korea and Japan," it said.

A spokesman for Matsushita, which makes the Panasonic brand of consumer electronics, said it could not comment as it had not seen the lawsuit.

Matsushita, the world's third-biggest plasma panel maker, said last week it would double output at its plant in Amagasaki, in the western prefecture of Hyogo, ahead of schedule as it rushes to meet explosive demand for plasma TVs.

Samsung SDI's third-quarter net profit fell 67 percent from a year ago hit by weaker panel prices. LG Electronics Inc., the world's second-ranked plasma panel maker, only managed to break even.

Additional reporting by Nathan Layne in Tokyo.