A few months ago, the HTC company acquired S3 Graphics, a producer of graphic chips for electronic products. Shortly after acquiring the company, HTC sued Apple claiming that some S3 patents were infringed in the construction of some products of the Cupertino company. Although HTC had obtained a favorable preliminary decision, during the course of yesterday a commission of ITC took a final decision in the dispute between the two companies claiming that Apple is not guilty of infringing any S3 patent in its products.
The US International Trade Commission ruled that Apple Inc. products don't infringe on patents held by HTC Corp.'s recently acquired subsidiary S3 Graphics, a setback for the Android handset maker. The news sent shares of the Taiwan-based smartphone maker down by more than 5% early Tuesday, as the decision called into question the rationale behind HTC's $300 million acquisition.
For HTC the problem is quite delicate because Apple has open disputes with the Taiwanese company and this victory could prove to be extremely important in the future. For the time being, those from HTC have not said whether they will take the Cupertino company to court for other potential infringements of any patents, but for Apple it is an important victory.
