UPDATE 1-Japan's Taiyo Yuden sues Taiwan DVD makers

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TOKYO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Japan's Taiyo Yuden Co Ltd (6976.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Monday it has filed a patent suit in the United States against two Taiwanese makers of DVD discs for violation of manufacturing technology for DVD-R discs.

Taiyo Yuden, an electronic parts maker, filed a suit at a California district court against Prodisc Technology Inc (2396.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Oct. 30 and Ritek Corp (2349.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Nov. 21, Taiyo Yuden spokeswoman Rieko Kimoto said.

It is the latest such suit by a Japanese company against an Asian firm. Chip makers in South Korea and Japan, for examble, have been locked in a string of legal disputes on patents.

Taiyo Yuden said the two Taiwanese firms infringed three patents regarding the manufacturing process for recording functions of DVD-R (digital versatile disc-recordable) and had refused to pay patent fees.

Kimoto said the company estimates the amount of damage to be several billions of yen, but declined to say how much it is seeking in the suits.

Shares of Taiyo Yuden ended morning trade down 2.1 percent at 1,863, underperforming a 0.5 percent fall in the benchmark Nikkei average .N225. (Reporting by Aiko Hayashi, Editing by Michael Watson)