Largan Precision Co (大立光), the nation’s biggest supplier of camera lenses, has settled a lengthy litigation battle with smaller rival Ability Opto-Electronics Technology Co (先進光電), according to statements that the companies filed with the Taiwanese Stock Exchange yesterday.
“We have signed a confidential settlement agreement,” Largan said in its statement. “Per the agreement, we will withdraw all litigation against Ability.”
Details of the settlement are not to be disclosed to protect the privacy of individuals involved, the Taichung-based firm added.
Photo: CNA
In 2012 and 2013, Largan sued Ability for allegedly stealing trade secrets.
In 2017, the Intellectual Property Court ruled in Largan’s favor, ordering Ability to pay NT$1.52 billion (US$53.76 million at the current exchange rate) in compensation.
The court’s ruling was upheld on Jan. 28.
Largan hotly pursued the litigation, even requesting the court for the provisional seizure of Ability property on Tuesday last week.
In 2013, Chinese-language magazine Business reported that Largan saw defending its “more than 500” pieces of intellectual property as key to maintaining its position as No. 1 in Taiwan’s opto-electronics market.
Four engineers left Largan for positions at Ability and started filing patents related to production automation that Largan alleged infringed on its intellectual property, leading to the lawsuit.
Over the years, Largan has also sued Samsung Electronics Co, Newmax Technology Co (新鉅科) and HP Inc for patent infringement. Largan settled out of court with all parties, except for HP.
News of the settlement caused the price of Ability shares to jump 10 percent, the maximum daily increase, to NT$42.15.
The price of Largan shares initially dipped NT$65 before recovering and ending the trading day at NT$3,360, slightly lower than the opening price of NT$3,375.
Separately, Largan yesterday posted consolidated revenue of NT$3.21 billion for last month, down 12.44 percent from NT$3.67 billion in February last year.
That represented a monthly decline of 30 percent from NT$4.61 billion in January, as the Lunar New Year holiday reduced the number of working days.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday obtained the government’s approval to inject an additional US$10.26 billion to finance the construction of its second fab in Kumamoto, Japan, and a second fab in Arizona, using advanced process technologies. The Department of Investment Review approved TSMC’s investment applications on the basis that Taiwan remains a major technology and manufacturing hub for the chipmaker, which makes its most advanced chips at home, the company operates its research-and-development center here and the majority of its capacity remains in Taiwan. The latest capital injections — US$5.26 billion for its Japanese venture Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing
Packed into a small room, a drone, bipedal robot, supermarket checkout and other devices showcase a vision of China’s software future — one where an operating system developed by national champion Huawei (華為) has replaced Windows and Android. The collection is at the Harmony Ecosystem Innovation Center in the southern city of Shenzhen, a local government-owned entity that encourages authorities, companies and hardware makers to develop software using OpenHarmony (鴻蒙), an open-source version of the operating system Huawei launched five years ago after US sanctions cut off support for Google’s Android. While Huawei’s recent strong-selling smartphone launches have been closely watched for
The waves of the Aegean Sea lap gently at the tables and chairs of two beach restaurants on Greece’s Halkidiki peninsula. It is an idyllic scene, but one that is totally illegal. Like many others in Greece, the two establishments on Pefkochori Beach do not have a license to set up shop so close to the water. After a wave of protests last summer by locals about bars and restaurants illegally covering beaches with sunbeds and tables, the Greek state is taking action. It is cracking down on rogue tourist practices with surveillance drones, satellite imagery and a special app
AI BOOM: With many stocks trading at historically high levels, the TAIEX is expected to drop about 600 points in the third quarter as investors seek to pocket their profits Taiwan’s main board could experience a technical pullback after the TAIEX soared more than 28 percent in the first half of this year following a strong showing by artificial intelligence (AI)-related stocks, analysts said on Saturday, predicting that the index would make a comeback in the fourth quarter. On Friday, the last trading session of this month, the TAIEX rose 126.27 points, or 0.55 percent, to 23,032.25, pushing up the main board by 5,101.44 points, or 28.4 percent, in the first six months of the year. Of the major indices in the world, the TAIEX only trailed the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index