Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co, the world's largest personal-computer maker, yesterday filed its second lawsuit in a month against rival Acer Inc, claiming its computers infringe five patents.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Marshall, Texas, seeks to stop Acer from selling some "desktops, notebooks, media cen-ters and related products for home and business use" in the US, plus cash compensation.
HP, based in Palo Alto, California, also filed a complaint with a US trade agency to block imports of Acer computers.
Officials from both HP Taiwan and Acer declined to comment on the latest litigation yesterday. A public relations official from Acer, who requested anonymity, said the company was still looking into the two lawsuits.
On March 27, HP sued Acer in the same Texas court over five different patents. The latest suit involves technology involving power conservation, temperature controls, data transfer and video display resolution.
The patents "generally relate to technologies incorporated in Acer-branded personal computers and digital display devices," the complaint states.
The latest report by research firm International Data Corp (IDC) shows that Acer was the fastest-growing PC maker among the world's top five in the first quarter.
HP had a 19.1 percent share of the global PC market in the first quarter, IDC said on Thursday, while Acer tied for third place with China's Lenovo Group Ltd (
In a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday, Acer said it had replaced Lenovo as the world's third-largest PC vendor in the first quarter, based on a report released by Gartner Dataquest on Thursday.
Citing Gartner's figures, Acer said it sold 4.28 million PCs in the three-month period, representing 6.8 percent of the global PC market, while Lenovo shipped 3.97 million PCs, giving it a 6.3 percent market share.
"The strong growth in the first quarter in Europe, the Middle East and Africa should also help sustain Acer's first-quarter operating margin," Henry King (
In addition to consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co, which was roped in as a distribution channel last quarter, Acer may add one more channel in the US this quarter to further boost its momentum in the US, a market in which Acer is expanding aggressively, he added.
Goldman Sachs maintained its 12-month target price for Acer at NT$70 (US$2.1), and reiterated a “Buy” rating on the stock, but cautioned that risks to the target price would include the outcome of the litigation against HP, which may impact Acer's expansion in the US.
Acer shares closed up 0.8 percent at NT$63.5 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange
yesterday.
RSS