Gigabyte, ASUS call truce on PC legal spat

ASUS and Gigabyte have put an end to a legal battle almost as quickly as it began, says a report detailing the feud. The former company had filed a legal complaint with Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission arguing that Gigabyte slandered ASUS with photos implying poor quality mainboards and power-saving measures, but now says it will drop the matter following Gigabyte's willingness to publicly apologize for the accusations with a message in Sunday newspapers.

The action is necessary as the document, which was strictly internal, was harshly written and misled by using a shot of a rival's failed mainboard alongside an ASUS model, creating guilt by association, ASUS explains. The company also says that the leaked document had no independent tests that could have justified this level of criticism.

Both of the companies are considered especially fierce competitors both at home in the Taiwan region as well as internationally, with both supplying parts for other PC makers as well as building their own computer lines. Gigabyte currently plans to launch a micro notebook that it hopes will compete with ASUS' Eee PC line and has also recently entered the UMPC market with an upcoming system based on Intel's Atom.

Filed under: industry
Other story tags: ASUS, Eee PC, Gigabyte