Just before it is to release its highly anticipated iPhone 5, Apple Inc. faces new litigation, this time from a Taiwanese firm.
VIA, the world’s largest independent motherboard manufacturer based in Taiwan, has suied Apple this week for copyright infringement. VIA are claiming that Apple have infringed the copyright on a series of patented microprocessors that are used in the iPod, iPad, iPhone and Apple TV.
VIA have issued a complaint with the US International Trade Commission and the American district court over the alleged infringement of the way the chips in the Apple products manipulate and transfer data.Wen Chi Chen, CEO, VIA Technologies, Inc. in a statement said “We are determined to protect our interests and the interests of our stockholders when our patents are infringed upon.” Apple has not released a statement concerning the lawsuit at this time.
The lawsuit is believed to be connected to an on-going series of legal battles between Apple and the smartphone company HTC. Cher Wang, VIA's chairwoman, is also the chairwoman of HTC. So far Apple has won lawsuits against HTC which state that HTC have infringed on two of Apple’s copyrighted patents. HTC are planning on appealing that ruling and have three other lawsuits filed against Apple at the moment.
Also, VIA claimed it has built up an extensive intellectual property portfolio including more than 5,000 patents after years of heavy investments in technology research and development.
Similarly Apple and mobile phone producer Samsung are having legal battles in Europe which have caused the ban of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany as well as bans on three different types of smartphone in Holland due to the successful claim by Apple that they used Apple’s intellectual property. These are just some the most recent of a series of mobile phone lawsuits, concerning the patents of the hardware and software of top of the range smartphones across the world. Lawsuits have been filed against and by Apple, HTC, Samsung and Nokia as well as others.
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