The ITC in a new ruling (PDF) upheld its decision that Apple wasn't violating patents in HTC's original trade complaint. The conclusion followed a minor review and determined that Apple wasn't copying HTC's energy management and phone dialer technology. HTC can appeal the verdict, but may have trouble persuading the court.
(Update: HTC statement) Apple scored a major coup Monday after the International Trade Commission ruled in favor of Apple in a repeatedly delayed decision as to whether HTC was violating Apple patents. An administrative law judge upheld the view that HTC was violating two claims. Some unnamed devices would be banned starting from April 19 to give times for carriers to switch to other hardware.
A final ruling from the International Trade Commission was dealt a second, last-minute delay on Tuesday. HTC said that the final decision, already moved back to December 14, would now be held on December 19. No explanation was given for the setback.
HTC faced another setback Friday after it decided to drop an appeal against a ban on its 3G devices in Germany. The company made the surprise reversal after it decided that it wasn't likely to win against IPCom, which claims all of HTC's 3G hardware violates its patents. IPCom claimed that it would have "no choice" but to ban HTC's hardware before the end of the year, as HTC had "never" had any cash offer that could be enough to cover the patents.
HTC plans to "reevaluate" its buyout out S3 Graphics now that S3 has lost its ITC case against Apple, the smartphone designer said in a statement Wednesday. The brief response didn't give a likelihood but indirectly admitted that HTC had bought S3 solely on the basis of its interim patent win over Apple, which was just overturned this week. HTC had been prepared to spend $300 million.
S3, and by extension HTC, was dealt a major blow on Monday after an Administrative Law Judge dismissed S3's initial ITC complaint. The ruling didn't explain the decision but completely rejected all of the claims across the four patents. An initial ruling had given two wins to S3 but has been overturned.
Acer has announced that it is now shipping upgraded configurations for its Aspire S3 notebook, enabling customers to choose a Core i7 processor rather than the Core i5 chip that ships with the base model. The latest offering brings the notebook in closer competition with the MacBook Air, which also provides a choice between Core i5 and i7 CPUs.
HTC outlined some of its Android plans on Monday that included both the courtroom and its products. In a far-ranging briefing, the company's CEO Peter Chou told Reuters his company was "open-minded" to the prospect of buying patents to escalate its fight with Apple. There weren't any specific plans, he said.
HTC made another in a string of company buyouts Tuesday as it acquired Zoodles maker Inquisitive Minds for $13 million. The deal will get it the creator of a child-oriented front end for smartphones and tablets that both lets parents manage the enviroment, such as blocking ads or setting play times, as well as giving them a central place for books, drawing, games, and videos. HTC noted that there were about two million users, although it didn't say what would happen to Zoodles after the deal.
S3 Graphics chose not to wait for the HTC acquisition to follow through to launch a second lawsuit and matching ITC dispute against Apple. The complaints, filed Thursday but publicized Friday, accuses Apple of violating patents both on a VGA graphics controller and on a rendering technique for 3D triangles. The lawsuit, submitted in a federal Delaware court, describes the scope as covering all iOS devices and Macs.
The Acer Aspire S3 ultrabook has been priced for Europe where it will start at 799 euro for the entry model, through to 1199 euro for the top-end model. The notebook, previously known as the Aspire 3951, is one of the first to be built according to Intel’s new ultrabook specifications. Like its MacBook Air inspiration, the 13-inch notebook also weighs in at 3 pounds, in this case thanks to its magnesium-alloy and aluminum construction.
Acer is prepping to launch its new ultrabook at the IFA exhibition in Berlin on Friday. Based on banners appearing at the show in advance, the company has rebranded the MacBook Air rival as the Acer Ultrabook S3. Previously, it had been alluded to as the Acer Aspire 3951.
HTC on Tuesday launched a countering lawsuit against Apple to try and slow a decision. The claim alleges that virtually all Apple hardware violates three patents that were granted between 2008 and 2010. They cover technologies such as a PDA-like interface, the OFDM wireless common to many devices, and modulating orderwires.
HTC CFO Winston Yung mentioned on Tuesday that his company would be willing to talk a deal with Apple following a stalemate between the two. Following Apple's win at the ITC negating HTC's buyout of S3, Yung claimed HTC was willing to look at "all sorts of solutions" with Apple if they were "fair and reasonable." No formal talks had been held since the ITC ruling, but he told Bloomberg that negotiations had been frequent if irregular before.
HTC followed up strong results on Wednesday by buying out VIA's stake in S3 Graphics. The deal, worth $300 million, effectively gives control of the graphics chipset maker. About $147 million will go directly to VIA, while the remaining $153 million will go to S3's investor WTI.
The International Trade Commission (ITC) has made a preliminary ruling (PDF) that Apple has infringed upon two of four patent claims against the company made by S3 Graphics. The initial ruling made by an administrative law judge will go before a six-member commission, which will deliver its final verdict in November. S3 Graphics first filed its current patent suit with the ITC in June last year, claiming that Apple copied its graphics texture compression technology in its Mac and iOS product lines.
Apple has quietly responded to S3's International Trade Commission ban attempt by filing a lawsuit. Submitted earlier in the month, the Northern Distrct of California complaint's details are mostly unknown. The response is likely extensive as the court won't allow a digital version due to the "oversized" document, which seldom occurs in these cases.
S3 Graphics late last week filed a complaint (PDF) against Apple with the International Trade Commission for allegedly violating four patents relating to encoding and decoding images. It accuses Apple of copying the technology with the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Certain MacBooks and Apple software, such as SDKs, also supposedly imitate S3's work.
Google is about to launch its own cloud storage option in a bid to take on Amazon's S3, a new rumor may have revealed this afternoon. Google Storage, or GS for short, would let app developers host content either for themselves or for users online. The source for TechCrunch added that it would use a Google ID for secure downloads and let developers control storage remotely.
Amazon and Microsoft tonight agreed to a cross-licensing deal for each other's patents. The deal gives Microsoft special access to technology behind the Kindle reader as well as Amazon's implementation of Linux on servers. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, including what technology Amazon would get, but the online retailer will pay Microsoft an unmentioned sum as part of the transaction.
Best known for its integrated video in recent years, VIA's graphics label S3 late yesterday introduced the Chrome 500 series of graphics chips. The hardware is built to challenge the Radeon HD 4350 and other budget dedicated cards both in the feature set and performance with a newer unified shader (effects) processor design that supports DirectX 10.1+ and OpenGL 3 for graphics as well as general-purpose computing tasks written to support the Chrome hardware.
(Update: service back late in the afternoon) Amazon has been suffering an ongoing shortage that has both affected its main business as well as hurt its Kindle e-book reader, according to user reports. The outage began earlier this afternoon and has left Amazon's main page nearly, blank, with only a "service unavailable" message at the front. Kindle users in turn note an inability to access the company's site for downloading e-books.
