Continental AG, which makes control units for Daimler AG cars, cannot pursue antitrust claims against a group of patent owners, including Qualcomm Inc, which are seeking royalties on telecommunications technology, a federal judge in Texas ruled.
Avanci LLC, a licensing pool formed by Qualcomm, Nokia Oyj, Sharp Corp and other owners of patents on technology standards, is not breaching antitrust laws when it negotiates license agreements with automakers rather than the component makers, Barbara Lynn, chief district judge for the Northern District of Texas, said in dismissing the suit in a decision posted on Friday.
The licensing group charges US$15 per vehicle for the use of patented technology that is key to an industry standard for 4G telecommunications, and is developing a price for 5G, the next generation of wireless technology that promises to alter everything from driverless vehicles to robotic surgery.
Companies that develop standardized technology so electronics can work together to license any relevant patents on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, known as Frand. It is a phrase that has never been defined, although Continental said that Avanci’s licensing plan is neither fair nor reasonable.
Automakers traditionally have their component makers handle any patent licensing issues and indemnify the automaker from infringement suits.
Continental, which makes the telematics control units for Daimler vehicles, said that the US$15 charge would more than wipe out any profit it makes from the US$100 part it sells Daimler.
In dismissing the lawsuit, Lynn relied in part on a US appeals court decision that threw out an antitrust lawsuit the US Federal Trade Commission had lodged against Qualcomm over its licensing practices.
In that ruling, the court said that Qualcomm was within its rights to demand royalties from the end product rather than a component part.
“A patent owner may use price discrimination to maximize the patent’s value without violating antitrust law,” Lynn wrote.
Avanci’s request to dismiss the lawsuit was bolstered by the US Department of Justice’s antitrust division, which wrote to the judge in February to say that any breach of the Frand obligation would be a contract dispute, not an antitrust case.
The case was part of a closely watched group of lawsuits in the US and Europe pitting Daimler and its parts makers against the telecom industry. Nokia has been winning court rulings in Germany.
“This decision further confirms that Avanci’s one-stop licensing solution for the auto industry is consistent with US antitrust law,” Avanci founder and chief executive Kasim Alfalahi said in a statement.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”