Mitsubishi Unit Loses Patent Suit : Electronics: Wang Laboratories wins a second claim against an O.C. arm of a Japanese giant.

Mitsubishi Electronics America Corp. has become the second Orange County arm of a Japanese electronics giant to lose a patent infringement suit to Wang Laboratories Inc., the onetime pacesetter in the domestic computer industry.

A federal court jury in Los Angeles ruled this week that the Cypress-based Mitsubishi unit had infringed on Wang Lab’s patents for computer memory modules for personal computers.

Toshiba Electronics, whose U.S. headquarters is in Irvine, and NEC Corp., with U.S. headquarters in New York, lost similar infringement suits in 1991 and were required to pay Wang about $5 million in royalties.

Jurors in the Mitsubishi case, however, ruled that there was an implied licensing agreement between Wang and Mitsubishi and rejected Wang’s claim to royalties.

Wang officials at company headquarters in Lowell, Mass., said Friday they intend to appeal that part of the decision.

“What you have is a jury verdict. You do not have a judgment,” said Wang spokesman Ed Pignone. “We feel the jury’s findings are unsupported by the evidence. We intend to ask the judge to set aside the finding of the implied license.”

Matthew A. Joseph, assistant general counsel for Mitsubishi Electronics America, said the company would oppose Wang.

“We feel the jury decision” that Mitsubishi had an implied license from Wang to manufacture the memory modules “was the correct one,” he said.

If Judge John Davies agrees to set aside the licensing verdict, the trial would enter a second phase to determine monetary damages. Davies is expected to issue a ruling within two months.

Wang sued the U.S. subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric Corp. in June, 1992, alleging that the company had been manufacturing, using and selling memory modules that are protected by two Wang patents.

Wang applied for the patents in late 1983 but kept them secret until 1989. Most companies since have licensed the technology from Wang, which fell into financial ruin before filing for bankruptcy protection in August, 1992.

The company emerged from bankruptcy last fall. It has shed most of its identity as a computer maker and focuses instead on software and services. It retained a large patent portfolio, however, and has been aggressive about protecting it.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.