And financial heft is one reason why mvis would IMHO probably not start anything, unless/until there was products and profits involved.
If mvis took legal action against Trilite, no doubt some judge would order the parties (mvis and Trilite) to try too come to some reasonable solution acceptable to both. But what would that be ? A licensing deal ? On what terms ? Maybe the sony deal (and sharp, etc.) could be used as examples, but if the Trilite application could partially be something very different (auto stereoscopic displays), that might make it difficult to translate the terms. And even if they agreed to a licensing deal, it wouldn't guarantee that there would be products and that fees would be paid to mvis anytime soon (and Trilite wouldn't be in a position to pay up front, right ?).
Regarding sony.......I am not saying it is naive to think they would play bodyguard........but I think maybe sony would be coming to mvis and demanding that mvis itself protect the IP that mvis charged sony to license.