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Acer settles patent lawsuits with HP

Acer Inc said yesterday it has settled its yearlong patent infringement battle with US rival Hewlett-Packard (HP).

Acer said in a statement that the details of the agreement with HP were “confidential.” It said the agreement “resolves all claims asserted in three federal court lawsuits and two United States International Trade Commission investigations between the parties.”

It said all of the legal actions have now been dismissed.

Messages to Acer and HP offices in Taipei were not immediately answered.

In March last year, HP filed a lawsuit with the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas alleging that Acer had violated five patents covering technologies that included DVD editing, managing power consumption in portable computers and ways to use multiple microprocessor chips.

California-based HP also filed another lawsuit against Acer in April at the International Trade Commission alleging infringement of four of the same patents.

Acer responded with a counterclaim of its own the following July, denying the patent infringement allegations, and saying HP infringed on patents issued to the Industrial Technology Research Institute, to which Acer possesses the rights.

HP is the world’s largest PC firm, with a 19.1 percent market share during the first quarter of this year, research firm IDC says.

IDC placed Acer third, after Dell Inc, with a 9.9 percent share.
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