Share prices of the nation’s top computer memory chipmaker, Nanya Technology Co (南亞科技) rose 1.66 percent yesterday after the company won a patent infringement case in the US and avoided potential royalty payments.
In a final ruling, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) said that Nanya Technology did not violate patents Tessera Technologies Inc claims to own, the Taiwanese chipmaker said in a statement released before the stock market opened.
The ruling affirmed an initial determination made in August, when an ITC judge found Nanya had committed “no violation” or infringements on the patents asserted by Tessera.
Nanya Technology’s shares rose NT$0.50, or 1.7 percent, to end at NT$30.60, while the benchmark TAIEX made a 0.73 percent gain.
Nanya vice president Pai Pei-lin (白培霖) said the company was pleased with the ruling.
“The ruling confirms Nanya’s respect for intellectual property,” Pai said in a statement.
Tessera’s allegations of infringement of its asserted US patents against Nanya Technology and other companies were rejected and no exclusion order was issued by the commission, the statement said.
The ITC’s investigation was instituted in January last year, based on a complaint filed by Tessera of San Jose, California, in December 2007.
Acer Inc (宏碁), computer memory chipmakers Powerchip Semiconductor Corp (力晶半導體) and ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技) were also included in the investigation, a notice posted on the ITC Web site showed.
Shares of Acer rose 1.49 percent to NT$95.50.
Shares of Powerchip and ProMOS rose 1.01 percent and 2.38 percent to NT$4 and NT$2.15 respectively, whcih was partly attributable to the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ announcement on Tuesday that it would seek alternatives to fund the local PC memory sector should legislators reject its cash injection plan.
Tessera said it was disappointed by the ruling.
“We will have an opportunity to appeal this ruling and are already reviewing other avenues open to us to ensure we are fully compensated for use of our technology,” Henry Nothhaft, Tessera president and chief executive officer, said.
“We continue to work closely with our licensed customers who are benefiting from their use of our patent portfolio, valuable know-how and trade secrets,” he said.
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