Elan Microelectronics Corp (義隆電子), a chip and touchscreen maker in Taiwan, is considering an appeal against a ruling handed down by the International Trade Commission (ITC) of the US in favor of Apple Inc, which Elan had accused of a patent infringement.
Elan said late on Friday that the ITC ignored its arguments pointing to Apple’s infringement of its patent on multi-point touch panel technology and upheld its preliminary decision in favor of the US high-tech giant.
The Taiwanese company said that the latest ITC decision had hurt the rights of Elan and it was considering filing an appeal against it.
In March last year, Elan filed a complaint with the ITC, alleging Apple’s products, including the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and MacBook, stole its patent involving the use of two fingers to perform operations on a touch pad or touch screen.
In May this year, the ITC Chief Administrative Law Judge issued a preliminary decision against Elan. The Taiwanese firm requested a review of the decision.
Earlier this week, the ITC upheld the preliminary ruling. After the news surfaced, Elan shares fell 0.61 percent to end at NT$32.60 (US$$1.13) on the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Friday, even though the benchmark weighted index closed up 1.0 percent.
Market analysts said investors were disappointed with the latest ITC ruling, adding the market had previously expected Elan would win and collect as much as US$100 million in compensation.
Last year, touch applications accounted for about 30 percent of Elan’s sales. The portion is expected to rise to 50 percent this year, according to the company.
While it lost to Apple in the latest ITC decision, Elan said its district court filing in northern California is still being considered. That lawsuit also accused Apple of infringing upon the same patent.
Last year, Apple’s iPhone generated about US$25 billion in sales, while the iPod posted US$8.3 billion in revenue. The iPad’s sales totaled US$5 billion.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
The US said it plans to help build a first-of-its-kind industrial hub in the Philippines to boost production of inputs crucial to US supply chains. The 4,000-acre hub is intended to be “a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing” and “an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand,” the US Department of State said on Thursday. The project — touted as an “economic security zone” — would be within the Luzon Economic Corridor, a flagship economic project backed by the US and Japan on the main Philippine island. The project was also described as “the first artificial intelligence
RSS