Apple vs HTC: S3 Graphics Patent Fails As ITC Says There’s No Violation from Apple [HTC Loses One More Legal Fight Against Apple, Is S3 $300 Million Purchase in Peril?]

Posted on TFTS by Chris Smith on Tuesday, 22. November 2011 under: Computers & Computing, Mobile/Cell Phones, PCs, Notebooks, Netbooks & Tablets

Apple and HTC are engaged in several lawsuits, with each company suing, or being sued by the other on account of alleged patent violation. So far Apple is winning the fight, and the Cupertino-based company has scored one more victory against HTC.

Yesterday the International Trade Commission decided that Apple is not violating any of the patents S3 Graphics was claiming to be infringed by various Apple products such as the iPhone, iPad and Mac. Therefore the ITC has decided not to ban imports of such Apple products. How is this a win for Apple against HTC? Well the Taiwan-based manufacturer wanted to buy S3 Graphics for $300 million exactly because the company had some interesting patents which could be used in HTC’s fight against Apple.

Now that the ITC decided the patents are not infringed by Apple, HTC said that it may challenge the ruling in a U.S. appeals court, according to Bloomberg. That suggests the fact the Taiwan-based company is still interested in aquiring S3, although analysts doubt the necessity of such a purchase:

A decision against HTC “calls into question the rationale of the S3 acquisition,” said Chen Fu-li, an analyst at E Sun Securities Co. in Taipei who has a “buy” rating on HTC shares. “It’s the final decision so it’s quite important. A negative decision could put pressure on HTC’s shares.”

It will be interesting to follow the remaining lawsuits between these two smartphone makers, as there are plenty of rulings to be heard in the coming months. Apple is so far winning this battle, as HTC has already been found to be in violation of certain patents, although a final ruling in that case is still pending. Many believed HTC’s S3 patents would turn out to be very valuable in this fight, but it now looks like they were rendered useless by the ITC.

On top of S3 patents, HTC has also used patents acquired from Google to initiate a new legal action against Apple, which only suggests that the company is trying to fight Apple in courts by using whatever means necessary. And so far it’s not really working it its favor.

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