Smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday said it had not violated patents owned by Nokia Corp, because it has licensed the Finnish mobile phone maker’s wireless technology patents since 2003.
The Taoyuan-based company’s remark came a day after Nokia said it filed claims in the US and Germany alleging HTC, Research In Motion Ltd (RIM) and Viewsonic Corp had infringed its patents.
Shares in HTC dropped 4.34 percent, closing at NT$452 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
On Wednesday, Nokia said it had filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) against HTC, suits against HTC and Viewsonic in the Federal District Court of Delaware, against HTC and RIM in the Regional Court in Dusseldorf and against all three companies in the Regional Courts in Mannheim and Munich.
In total, 45 of Nokia’s patents are involved in one or more of the actions, the Finish company said in a statement on its Web site.
“Though we’d prefer to avoid litigation, Nokia had to file these actions to end the unauthorized use of our proprietary innovations and technologies, which have not been widely licensed,” Nokia’s chief legal officer Louise Pentland said in the statement.
HTC, the world’s No. 5 smartphone brand, said it respected innovation and intellectual property.
“We have not received the court notification yet, but we will do our best to protect our rights,” HTC said in a statement yesterday, without making any further comment.
The global smartphone market grew 42.5 percent year-on-year to 144.9 million units in the first quarter of this year, with Samsung Electronics Co leading the market with shipments of 42.2 million units and a market share of 29.1 percent, according to the latest IDC quarterly report released on Tuesday.
Apple Inc slipped to second place with shipments of 35.1 million iPhones in the quarter and a market share of 24.2 percent, while Nokia came third with an 8.2 percent market share, followed by Canadian BlackBerry maker RIM with 6.7 percent market share, IDC said.
IDC said HTC’s shipments fell by 23.3 percent to 6.9 million units in the first quarter from a year earlier, with a market share of 4.8 percent, caused by the company’s difficulties in the US market. “The company is staking future success in large part on its One X and S products,” it added.
Shares in Taiwan closed at a new high yesterday, the first trading day of the new year, as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continued to break records amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 386.21 points, or 1.33 percent, at 29,349.81, with turnover totaling NT$648.844 billion (US$20.65 billion). “Judging from a stronger Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, I think foreign institutional investors returned from the holidays and brought funds into the local market,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said. “Foreign investors just rebuilt their positions with TSMC as their top target,
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”
Garment maker Makalot Industrial Co (聚陽) yesterday reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue of NT$7.93 billion (US$251.44 million), down 9.48 percent from NT$8.76 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, revenue fell 10.83 percent from NT$8.89 billion, company data showed. The figure was also lower than market expectations of NT$8.05 billion, according to data compiled by Yuanta Securities Investment and Consulting Co (元大投顧), which had projected NT$8.22 billion. Makalot’s revenue this quarter would likely increase by a mid-teens percentage as the industry is entering its high season, Yuanta said. Overall, Makalot’s revenue last year totaled NT$34.43 billion, down 3.08 percent from its record NT$35.52
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