Dolby Labs Sues SRS Labs And SMART Devices For Alleged False Advertising And Trademark Use Of ""Surround EX""

SRS Labs, Inc of Santa Ana, California and SMART Devices, Inc of Atlanta, Georgia were served with a lawsuit for alleged false advertising and trademark use of ""Surround EX."" Dolby Laboratories, Inc of San Francisco, California filed the suit on April 23. SRS Labs had filed for trademark protection for ""Circle Surround EX"" in late October 1998 to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. SMART, a licensee of SRS Labs, produces a digital surround adapter for cinemas using the patented Circle SurroundÆ technology. SMART has a patent pending on special enhancements to the CS (Circle Surround) process. According to Norm Schnieder, President of SMART Devices, Dolby was late in filing for trademark protection, thus the SRS Labs filing of the ""Surround EX"" trademark preceded Dolbyís filling. Dolby and Lucasfilm Ltd. have joint-ventured to develop and promote ""Surround EX."" Lucasfilm has been given an exclusive premier of the new third-surround dimension Dolby encoding scheme in George Lucasí ""Star Wars: Episode IóThe Phantom Menace,"" which opens May 19 in theatres nationwide. Other cinema products companies, in addition to Dolby and SMART, also have introduced ""Surround EX-type"" adapters which will decode the ""Star Wars"" soundtrack. They are DTSÆ (Digital Theater Systems) and Panastereo. Given the claim by Schnieder that SRS Labs has filed first for trademark protection, a counter suit is a possibility. Such would endanger Dolby and Lucasfilm from marketing and advertising the ""Surround EX"" moniker. See the next Issue 32 of Widescreen Review for a complete behind-the-scenes report on surround EX. For more information, contact Norm Norm Schnieder, President, SMART Devices, at 800 457 6278 or visit the companyís Website at www.smartdev.com.