HTC Corp (宏達電), the world’s leading maker of smartphones running on Windows Mobile and Android platforms, yesterday said it had filed a counter-lawsuit against Apple Inc, asking for an injunction on the sales of the popular iPhones, iPads and iPods in the US.
HTC has filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) in the US to halt the import and sales of the devices in the country because of an infringement of five HTC patents, the company said in a statement released yesterday.
“As the innovator of the original Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition in 2002 and the first Android smartphone in 2008, HTC believes the industry should be driven by healthy competition and innovation that offer consumers the best, most accessible mobile experiences possible,” Jason Mackenzie, HTC’s vice president for North America, said in the statement.
“We are taking this action against Apple to protect our intellectual property, our industry partners, and most importantly, our customers,” he said.
The move is HTC’s counter action against Apple, which filed lawsuits in a US District Court in the state of Delaware and with the ITC in March, accusing HTC of violating 20 iPhone patents related to “user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.”
The iPhone, whose sales hit more than 40 million worldwide in the first quarter, was introduced in 2007 by the company behind iPods, iPads and Macintosh computers.
Apple is asking for unspecified damages and an injunction to prevent HTC from making or selling products using the patents in dispute.
Currently, US consumers have a variety of choices among 12 HTC smartphones available from national wireless carriers, the statement read.
Recent models include the Evo 4G with Sprint, the Droid Incredible with Verizon Wireless and the HD2 with T-Mobile.
The smartphones market — viewed as the next growth engine for the overall cellular phone industry — is indeed heating up.
The NPD Group said this month that sales of Android phones unexpectedly topped Apple’s sales for the first quarter in the US, with 28 percent and 21 percent market share respectively.
The BlackBerry platform was first at 36 percent.
Researcher IDC, meanwhile, released its first-quarter market share data, placing Nokia and Research in Motion (the maker of BlackBerry) atop the worldwide smartphone market, with 39.3 percent and 19.4 percent respectively. Apple finished third at 16.1 percent, while HTC was the fourth at 4.8 percent.
Bolstered by the statement released yesterday morning, shares of HTC closed up 3.7 percent at NT$432 (US$13.1) in Taipei trading.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
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PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
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