Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s fourth-largest PC brand, said yesterday it did not expect the US government’s probe of the company’s alleged patent infringements would “significantly impact on [its] business and operations.”
The company said in an e-mailed statement that it viewed the matter as a “common issue” in the world’s information technology industry. The Taiwanese company is among several companies that have been under investigation by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) over alleged patent infringements in connection with wireless consumer electronics devices and components.
Acer said the three companies that filed complaints with the ITC in July and requested the US authorities launch an investigation were three California-based manufacturers: Technology Properties Ltd LLC (TPL), Patriot Scientific Corp and Phoenix Digital Solutions LLC.
The three companies have called on the ITC to issue an exclusion order and cease and desist orders on the wireless devices in question, which include notebooks, tablets, smartphones, global positioning systems and handheld gaming devices.
“The alleged claim of infringement goes back to as early as 2007, when Acer filed a lawsuit against TPL on the grounds that TPL’s patents are invalid. Subsequently, TPL counter-filed on patent infringement and reported the dispute to the US ITC,” Acer said.
Other companies involved in the ITC investigation are Taiwan’s HTC Corp (宏達電), China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and ZTE Corp (中興), Japan’s Kyocera Corp and Nintendo Co and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co.
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