HTC Corp (宏達電) lost a patent-infringement claim against Apple Inc at the US International Trade Commission, the first of the Taiwanese handset maker’s cases targeting the iPhone.
Apple didn’t violate an HTC patent for controlling how mobile phones manage power supply, the Washington-based commission said yesterday. The ruling completes a review of an October finding by an agency judge, who had determined that Apple devices didn’t infringe HTC’s intellectual property.
The case is part of the global battle for the smartphone market, which grew 55 percent in the fourth quarter last year, according to researcher IDC. Cupertino, California-based Apple and Taoyuan, Taiwan-based HTC are among device makers seeking an edge by pursuing patent claims against competitors in courts in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia.
“HTC is not having much luck in their cases and their performance in the market is taking a hit,” said Will Stofega, an analyst with IDC in Framingham, Massachusetts. “At the end of the day, this is an elongated battle that seems to be going a little bit better for Apple than for Android.”
HTC has fallen 37 percent in Taipei trading in the past year as competition from the iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co’s Galaxy models cut into its market share.
“We are disappointed by the commission’s ruling and look forward to reading the full opinion to understand its reasoning,” Grace Lei (雷憶瑜), HTC’s general counsel, said in an e-mail. “We’ll explore all options, including appeal.”
The commission also found that HTC wasn’t using the invention at issue in the case, a requirement to have an infringement violation found against another company. The agency’s full opinion will be made available after both sides have a chance to redact confidential information.
HTC, the second-largest maker of devices that run on Google Inc’s Android software, has a second case against Apple that is scheduled to begin on Aug. 30.
Apple says that Android devices infringe its patents. Apple filed first in March 2010, seeking to block imports of HTC’s Android phones. In that case, the commission in December found that HTC was infringing an Apple patent related to data detection and ordered a halt to phones that used the invention. HTC said it was able to design around that feature.
Apple sold 37 million iPhones in the fourth quarter, helping the company double its profit in the period and capture 24 percent of the global market, according to IDC. Samsung accounted for 23 percent of smartphone sales, followed by Nokia Oyj, Research In Motion Ltd and then HTC at 6.5 percent.
The HTC case against Apple is In the Matter of Portable Electronic Devices, 337-721, US International Trade Commission (Washington).
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”