Fingerprint sensor designer Egis Technology Inc (神盾) yesterday said that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit with Beijing’s Intellectual Property Court against Chinese rival Goodix Technology Inc (匯頂) in a renewed legal battle.
Egis in a statement said that Goodix has infringed on its property rights by using its patent in the manufacturing and sales of fingerprint products without Egis’ permission.
The company has requested the court to immediately stop Goodix’s practice and destroy all problematic products. It is also seeking 90 million yuan (US$13.24 million) in damages, the statement said.
Egis chief operating officer and chief technology officer Todd Lin (林功藝) confirmed the lawsuit, saying on the sidelines of an industry event in Taipei that Goodix has infringed upon Egis’ optical fingerprint patent and algorithm.
Egis said that it has allocated significant resources to develop new technology and products.
Based on its annual report, the company last year spent about 20 percent of its total revenue on research and development in a bid to offer competitive fingerprint sensors used in mobile devices and other electronics.
The company, which counts Samsung Electronics Co as its biggest client, has been expanding its presence in the Chinese market and has gained more Chinese customers, including supplying fingerprint sensors for Huawei Technologies Co’s (華為) premium and 5G phones.
The lawsuit is the latest legal dispute between Egis and Goodix.
Shenzhen-based Goodix is a subsidiary of MediaTek Inc (聯發科) and the world’s largest fingerprint sensor supplier.
It filed a lawsuit with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court in July last year, alleging that Egis contravened intellectual property rights by using its patent to make optical fingerprint sensors that are incorporated under displays of mobile phones.
The court in February ruled that the patent was invalid and overruled Goodix’s complaint in March.
MediaTek, Taiwan’s biggest handset chip designer, has said that it plans to reduce its stake in Goodix from 9.29 percent to 7.29 percent between July 10 and Jan. 5 next year.
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV yesterday said that it has reached an agreement to acquire a subsidiary brewery of Taiwan’s Sanyo Whisbih Group (三洋維士比集團). Heineken is to assume majority ownership and management rights of the Long Chuan Zuan Co (龍泉鑽興業) brewery in Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔), the Dutch company said. It would become the first multinational brewing company to operate brewery in Taiwan once the acquisition is completed. The deal has been approved by the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission, but details of the financial transaction cannot be disclosed at this time, as terms of the settlement have not been completed,
Had Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck hopped on an electric scooter rather than a Vespa in the classic film Roman Holiday, their spin around the Eternal City might have ended in tears. The number of crashes and near-misses involving the two-wheelers has prompted Rome authorities to impose some order on a booming rental market that began two years ago. The havoc came to a head earlier this month when two US tourists attempted a night-time drive down the Spanish Steps, causing more than 25,000 euros (US$26,392) worth of damage to the 18th-century monument. Caught on security footage, the couple in their late 20s
LOOK WHO OWES: China’s exposure to Taiwanese banks was the second-largest, with Luxembourg third, followed by Hong Kong and Japan, the central bank said The US remained the largest debtor country to Taiwan’s banking sector for a 27th consecutive quarter in the first quarter of this year, with its exposure rising 8.3 percent from a quarter earlier on the back of an increase in US bonds, the central bank said on Friday. Data compiled by the central bank showed that outstanding international claims by Taiwanese banks on a direct risk basis to the US stood at US$125.38 billion as of the end of March. Department of Financial Inspection deputy head Pan Ya-hui (潘雅慧) said that the US Federal Reserve’s launch of a rate hike cycle in
GREEN CITY: The company is set to invest US$8 billion to make electric vehicles and batteries for a new city that would rely entirely on renewable energy sources Indonesia said that Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is considering investing in the country’s new capital city, a move that would bolster the US$34 billion construction project. Hon Hai, which is known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), is looking at setting up an electric bus system and an Internet of Things network at Nusantara, as Indonesia’s new capital is to be called, Indonesian Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia said in a statement yesterday. Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Saturday to discuss the company’s plan to invest US$8 billion to build a manufacturing plant