Japan's Toshiba Corp <6502.T> said it sued Imation Corp and several recordable DVD manufacturers and distributors, claiming they are infringing on its patents.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, says Imation and the other companies do not have licensing agreements with Toshiba for patents that it says are essential for meeting DVD format specifications.

Toshiba wants damages for past infringement and is asking the court to bar the sale, manufacture or import into the United States of recordable DVD media by the companies that it named in the lawsuit, it said in a statement.

The DVD media are sold under the Imation and Memorex brand names in the United States, Toshiba said.

The other defendants are Moser Baer India Ltd , CMC Magnetics Corp <2323.TW> and Ritek Corp <2349.TW> of Taiwan, and Glyphics Media, Hotan Corp, Khypermedia Corp and Advanced Media Inc in the United States, Toshiba said.

(Reporting by Robert MacMillan, Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

Japan Electronics Radioshack