Sharp Corp said on Tuesday it had filed LCD patent infringement lawsuits in the United States against Taiwan's Au Optronics Corp.

The lawsuits came after the two had failed to reach an agreement to renew an LCD license contract after it expired on December 31 last year, Sharp said. The firms made the contract in 2006.

In a statement, the Japanese consumer electronics maker said it was seeking damages and an order banning U.S. imports and sales of products that infringe patents.

We respect third party's intellectual property rights, and we also expect others to respect our intellectual property rights, Au Optronics said in an e-mail response to an inquiry.

(Reporting by Taiga Uranaka, additional reporting by Clare Jim in Taipei; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

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