Three years ago, SED televisions were thought to be on the verge of competing with LCD HDTVs and plasma displays. By utilizing thousands of tiny electron guns for each phosphor pixel, SED looked poised to offer a compelling high definition solution with wide viewing angles and deep colors in a display as thin as LCD. But any plans to storm the market were quickly squashed when Applied Nanotech took Canon to court for illegally sublicensing its patents.

Fast forward to today and Canon is finally in the clear to launch SED-based televisions after having won the patent suit. Douglas Baker, Applied Nanotech's chief financial officer, admitted "it would probably be a futile effort" to try and appeal the case in the U.S. Supreme Court, so the only thing stopping Canon at this point is, well, the fear of being laughed at.

"At times like this, new display products are not introduced much because would laugh at them," Tsuneji Uchida, Canon's president, told Financial Times.

Uchida did say that Canon has been working on a cost competitive SED production process, so perhaps SED TVs might finally one day materialize. But first, Canon will need to set aside any fears it has of criticizers laughing at them. We hear picturing them in their underwear helps.

Image Credit: Canon