I found a copy of the May 1967 issue of the French electronics magazine "Le Haut-Parleur" (the Loudspeaker) which for 7 decades was the authoritative publication in this field - sort of a French "Wireless World" (UK magazine).
I am sending you a scan of the article covering the description of the color grid tube developed by the CFT (Compagnie Française de Television) Henri de France's research lab. Actual manufacture was accomplished by Thomson.
This 19" tube had purity problems: the unsupported grid wires were not rigid enough and vibrated because of the deflection magnetic fields, thus degrading color purity. Lack of money and time prevented the CFT to perfect the design and industrial production never happened.
Apparently the patents were sold to Sony, and along with the other patents they purchased from Paramount - Chromatic Laboratories, formed the foundation upon which the Trinitron tube was developed.
Sony's production of the aperture grille was developed independently, and evolved directly out of their attempts to develop a single-gun tube. They needed to move to a rectangular system because of that, so they first tried a solid grid with rectangular slots, then unsupported wires, and then cross-supported wires. They were selling the things to the public less than a year after that article was published.
If they purchased any patents, it was more likely to protect against claims from a similar system. Similarly, none of the Chromatron patents were relevant, as they don't share any technology with Trinitron tubes, they just both use a single electron gun.
