PHOTOGRAPHY
Kodak sells imaging patents
Eastman Kodak is selling its digital imaging patents for about US$525 million, money the struggling photo pioneer says will help it emerge from bankruptcy protection in the first half of next year. Apple Inc, Google Inc, Samsung Electronics Co, Research In Motion Ltd, Microsoft Corp, China’s Huawei Technologies (華為), Facebook Inc and Amazon.com Inc are among the 12 companies paying to license the 1,100 patents, according to court filings. Rochester, New York-based Eastman Kodak Co said on Wednesday that the patent sale will help it repay a substantial amount of a loan it received under the bankruptcy process.
TECHNOLOGY
Patent originality questioned
A filing on Wednesday in a high-stakes legal battle between Samsung and Apple revealed that a “pinch-to-zoom” patent central to the case has been deemed invalid. The patent was a centerpiece of the trial that ended in August with a jury ordering Samsung to pay Apple US$1.05 billion in damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features for its flagship Galaxy S smartphones. Samsung provided US District Judge Lucy Koh a copy of a US Patent and Trademark Office preliminary determination that, upon review, the Apple pinch-to-zoom technology was not original enough to merit a patent. Samsung hoped the filing would bolster its argument for a new trial or to have the damages slashed.
AUSTRALIA
Surplus unlikely: Treasurer
Treasurer Wayne Swan yesterday conceded for the first time he was unlikely to deliver a budget surplus this financial year, after the Australian Finance Department’s latest monthly statement showed tax revenue in the first four months of the financial year was down A$3.9 billion (US$4.09 billion) on expectations. Earlier this year, Swan declared the “deficit years of the global recession” over and since then he has insisted a surplus was on the cards, despite plunging commodities prices sending clear signs that all was not well. The government of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard had forecast a surplus of A$1.1 billion for 2012-2013.
ADVERTISING
Shift to online continues
Internet advertising hit a new high in the third quarter as marketers continued to shift money from print and broadcasting. The US$9.3 billion spent on Internet ads from July through September is an 18 percent increase from US$7.8 billion at the same time last year, according to a breakdown released on Wednesday by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Internet Advertising Bureau, a trade group. The third-quarter total marks the highest ad volume for any three-month period since 1995, when online marketing first began to move to the Web. Another record is expected in the current quarter ending this month.
VIDEOGAMING
Firm files for bankruptcy
The US videogame company behind popular titles Saints Row and Red Faction said on Wednesday it had filed for bankruptcy while wrangling to sell its assets to “a stalking horse bidder.” California-based THQ Inc planned to continue operating its business while positioning itself to be taken over. The company’s operations outside of the US were not included in the filing in US federal bankruptcy court. THQ’s moves came as the traditional console videogame industry grapples to adapt to the booming popularity of games played on smartphones, tablet computers, or via online social networks.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Taiwan’s property market is entering a freeze, with mortgage activity across the nation’s six largest cities plummeting in the first quarter, H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) said yesterday, citing mounting pressure on housing demand amid tighter lending rules and regulatory curbs. Mortgage applications in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung totaled 28,078 from January to March, a sharp 36.3 percent decline from 44,082 in the same period last year, the nation’s largest real-estate brokerage by franchise said, citing data from the Joint Credit Information Center (JCIC, 聯徵中心). “The simultaneous decline across all six cities reflects just how drastically the market
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
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