Vizio has been teasing the big boys long enough. Now Mitsubishi, Philips, Samsung and Sony are accusing Vizio of violating 15 patents relating to MPEG-2. The four companies allege that Vizio has failed to enter into a licensing agreement for MPEG-2 video compression technology. Samsung, Sony and Vizio recently have been in a tight race for the LCD TV market lead in the U.S. According to iSuppli, the three manufacturers are currently less than 1% apart from each other.

Vizio today acknowledged the suit and said that its suppliers have MPEG-2 patents and the company believes that these patents extend to Vizio. The company noted that it has notified its suppliers of the lawsuit and “expects full support and cooperation by them in the defense of the lawsuit.”

“Accordingly, Vizio does not believe that the suit will have a material adverse impact on Vizio's business,” the company said.