Toshiba has filed acomplaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) against 17 manufacturers and importers of DVD players, DVD recorders and other DVD-related products, to halt infringement of its patents.

In a statement, Toshiba  said it asked the ITC to prohibit the importation into the US of DVD players, DVD recorders and other DVD-related products by the companies named in the complaint which include Daewoo Electronics America Inc, Dongguan GVG Digital Technology Ltd, Dongguan Tonic Electronics Co Ltd, Dongguan Xin Lian Digital Technology Co Ltd, GVG Digital Technology Holdings Ltd, and jWIN Electronics Corp.

The Japanese electronics firm also said it filed a suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, seeking damages resulting from infringement of the DVD patents by the 17 companies. It did not provide any figures.

Toshiba claims the infringement of its patents by these companies has damaged its DVD-related operations as well as impacted the legitimate and licensed DVD product manufacturing and

distribution business as a whole.