June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and other electronics companies sued television maker Vizio Inc. for refusing to license patents for video- compression technology used in high-definition TVs.

Sony Corp., the world's largest maker of video-game consoles, and Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe's largest consumer electronics maker, also joined the lawsuit filed yesterday in federal court in Manhattan. Closely held Vizio is accused of violating 15 patents.

``For many years, defendant has had an opportunity to license the patents,'' from individual companies or industry group MPEG LA, according to the complaint. ``Vizio refused.''

The patents are ``essential'' to an industry standard known as MPEG-2, which compresses movies so they can be broadcast and stored on DVDs, according to the complaint. The electronics companies made similar claims in an April lawsuit against Target Corp. over its Trutech-brand TVs.

Vizio, based in Irvine, California, makes high-definition TVs sold by Circuit City Stores Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other retailers. Jim Noyd, an outside spokesman for Vizio, said the company doesn't comment on pending litigation.

Also suing Vizio were Thomson, the world's largest supplier of set-top boxes; Victor Co. of Japan Ltd., the maker of JVC- brand electronics, and Columbia University of New York. They seek a court order to stop use of their inventions, plus cash compensation.

The case is Mitsubishi Electric v. Vizio, 08-cv-5055, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporters on this story: David Glovin in New York federal court at dglovin@bloomberg.net; Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 3, 2008 13:48 EDT