HTC to rethink S3 acquisition after losing Apple patent case


23 Nov 2011

HTC will re-evaluate its planned acquisition of S3 Graphics after the company’s charges against Apple for patent infringement were dropped.

Bloomberg reports that HTC said it would re-evaluate this planned purchased of the company. This comes as the US International Trade Commission cleared Apple of all charges after S3 Graphics sued the consumer tech giant over data compression and decompression patents.

HTC has planned to acquire S3 Graphics in order to use its patents to protect itself from lawsuits from other smartphone vendors. It recently tried to use Google’s patents to sue Apple in the US, but the ITC determined that Apple did not infringe its IP rights.

Now that S3 Graphics has lost its case, its value for HTC has been thrown into question. HTC said it will rethink this acquisition, consulting investors.

“In light of recent developments, HTC will work closely in good faith with Via Technologies and WTI Investment International to conduct holistic re-evaluation of the S3 Graphics acquisition,” said a HTC spokesperson to CNET.