Apple Inc rejected an offer from Samsung Electronics Co to settle their tablet computer dispute in Australia, possibly killing off the commercial viability of the South Korean firm’s new Galaxy tablet in that market.
Apple says Samsung’s Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets “slavishly” copied its iPhone and iPad, and has launched an international legal battle which is expected to hurt growth at one of Samsung’s fastest-growing businesses.
Samsung, whose Galaxy gadgets are seen as a major threat to Apple’s devices, rejects the claims but has been seeking a quick settlement in Australia so that its new Galaxy 10.1 tablets can be launched there in time for Christmas.
NO BASIS
However, a lawyer for Apple told the Federal Court in Sydney yesterday that Samsung’s latest offer, made last week, provided no basis for a settlement and it wanted the court to rule on its claim that the Galaxy’s touch-screen technology infringed an Apple patent.
LAUNCH
“The main reason we are here is to prevent the launch [of the Galaxy tablet] and maintain the status quo,” Apple lawyer Steven Burley told the court.
An Apple victory in Australia could hurt Samsung’s bid to close the gap with Apple in the global tablet market, with a crucial US court ruling expected next week.
christmas
Samsung told the Sydney court that if it could not secure a ruling within about two weeks, the opportunity to launch its new tablets in time for Christmas would be lost and that it might as well take its time to argue the case well into next year.
The Australian court’s ruling could come this week, a federal court judge had said last week.
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Taiwan has enough crude oil reserves for more than 100 days and sufficient natural gas reserves for more than 11 days, both above the regulatory safety requirement, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, adding that the government would prioritize domestic price stability as conflicts in the Middle East continue. Overall, energy supply for this month is secure, and the government is continuing efforts to ensure sufficient supply for next month, Kung told reporters after meeting with representatives from business groups at the ministry in Taipei. The ministry has been holding daily cross-ministry meetings at the Executive Yuan to ensure
HORMUZ ISSUE: The US president said he expected crude prices to drop at the end of the war, which he called a ‘minor excursion’ that could continue ‘for a little while’ The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait started reducing oil production, as the near-closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz ripples through energy markets and affects global supply. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) is “managing offshore production levels to address storage requirements,” the company said in a statement, without giving details. Kuwait Petroleum Corp said it was lowering production at its oil fields and refineries after “Iranian threats against safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.” The war in the Middle East has all but closed Hormuz, the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the open seas,
Property transactions in the nation’s six special municipalities plunged last month, as a lengthy Lunar New Year holiday combined with ongoing credit tightening dampened housing market activity, data compiled by local land administration offices released on Monday showed. The six cities recorded a total of 10,480 property transfers last month, down 42.5 percent from January and marking the second-lowest monthly level on record, the data showed. “The sharp drop largely reflected seasonal factors and tighter credit conditions,” Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) deputy research manager Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday fell in February this year, reducing