Taiwanese compact disc producer Gigastorage Corp (國碩科技) has signed a preliminary agreement with rival Royal Philips Electronics NV to settle prolonged patent lawsuits, a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange said.
On Saturday, Gigastorage said that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Philips over IPR disputes regarding the manufacturing of CD-R and CD-RW media that began in 2001.
The company did not disclose details about the agreement, saying only that it was prepared to discuss payments to the Dutch company.
Gigastorage's board approved the plans to settle the patent lawsuits with Philips on Friday. Its shares rose NT$0.75 (US$0.02), or 6.91 percent, to close at NT$11.6 on Saturday.
Gigastorage stock has shot up 37.28 percent since the beginning of this year.
Gigastorage's attempt to settle the patent disputes with Philips, however, may not mean an end to looming IPR disputes between Taiwan and the EU.
The EU is close to concluding a probe into the legitimacy of a ruling made by Taiwan's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) in 2005 in favor of Gigastorage.
The investigation came in response to a Philips request.
The IPO imposed compulsory licensing on five CD-R and CD-RW patents owned by Philips, allowing Gigastorage to use the Dutch company's patents in manufacturing CD-R and CD-RW discs without paying royalties and allowing Gigastorage to sell the products in the domestic market.
"We are closely monitoring the development. If the EU rules in favor of Philips, we'll have to solve the disputes under the framework of the WTO," Tsai Lien-sheng (
"This may mark the first time we seek to solve IPR problem with another WTO member within the system after Taiwan joined the trade body," Tsai said.
Gigastorage said it did not believe the case would develop into an international issue.
"According to our understanding, Philips may withdraw its request to the EU," Gigastorage spokesman Carl Lee (李朝欽) said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Lee said that the company expected to sign a definitive agreement with Philips by the end of this year, adding that the settlement, if reached, would not have a serious impact on Gigastorage's financial situation.
"We should be able to make the payments in annual installments. We would have to pay lawyers anyway if the lawsuits continued," he said.
Gigastorage has paid no royalties to Philips since 2001 after filing lawsuits in the US, saying that Philips had overcharged companies using its patents to make CD-R and CD-RW discs.
The end of the lawsuits with Philips would have a positive impact on Gigastorage's ability to sell its products internationally, the company's filing said.
Gigastorage posted a loss of NT$155 million for the first six months of the year.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) have repeatedly hit new highs, but an equity analyst said the stock’s valuation remains within a reasonable range and any pullback would likely be technical. The contract chipmaker’s historical price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio has ranged between 20 and 30, Cathay Futures Consultant Co (國泰證期) analyst Tsai Ming-han (蔡明翰) told Central News Agency. With market consensus projecting that TSMC would post earnings per share of about NT$100 (US$3.17) this year, supported by strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, and the stock currently trading at a P/E ratio of below 25, Tsai said the valuation
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
RSS