The
Supreme Court in Japan made the ruling, backing the decision of a
lower court. The money to be paid by Hitachi to Seiji Yonezawa is a
share of overseas royalties on the technology he invented.
The High Court had previously ruled that Hitachi should pay
Yonezawa 14% of the royalties that the optical reading technology
earned in the US, Canada, Britain, France, Germany and the
Netherlands, as well as from licensing deals with Sony. The Supreme
Court upheld that ruling.
The optical disk reading technology is used in the reading of
CDs and DVDs. The ruling settles a case that has been running for
eight years.
"I am deeply moved that this case is now over," Yonezawa said in
a statement. "I hope this ruling will give courage to hard-working
company researchers and encourage further technological
development."
The result will please investors, but companies may worry about
the implications of employees being paid royalties on work they
have carried out while employees of a company.
"What about the risk companies bear for funding research?"
Hitachi spokesman Masayuki Takeuchi said to news agency Reuters
after the ruling. "This ruling may have a grave impact on Japanese
firms' research and development."
