Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation's biggest telecom service provider, yesterday said it had filed a counter injunction at the Shilin Prosecutors' Office to block Hon Hai Precision Industry Co's (鴻海精密) request that it stop leasing set-top boxes that may infringe on patents to Internet TV subscribers.
"We do not think Hon Hai has any reason to file an injunction against Chunghwa Telecom," the telecom operator said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Chunghwa Telecom said it did not plan to recall the boxes or stop leasing them to subscribers.
Last month, Hon Hai, the nation's biggest electronics component supplier, said that Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) had in-fringed on its patents by manufacturing the set-top boxes and it asked the court to require Asustek to stop making and selling them.
Hon Hai also asked the court to require that Asustek's customer, telecom equipment maker Hwa-Com Systems Inc (華電聯網), and HwaCom's customer, Chunghwa Telecom, both stop offering the boxes.
Chunghwa Telecom had signed a contract with HwaCom Systems in June to buy 153,000 set-top boxes for NT$563 million (US$17 million). The phone company had 330,000 Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) subscribers as of July.
HwaCom Systems said in a statement that it had not infringed any intellectual property rights.
RSS