VIA sues Apple for patent infringement

[Jos]

In the latest round of patent lawsuits, Taiwanese chipmaker VIA announced on Wednesday that it has taken legal action against Apple, filling a complaint with the US International Trade Commission and US District Court of Delaware for patent infringement.

VIA claim Apple's iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV products and associated software all infringe patents that the company owns. “VIA has built up an extensive IP portfolio consisting of over 5,000 patents as a result of significant investments in world class technology research and development,” commented Wenchi Chen, CEO of VIA Technologies, Inc. “We are determined to protect our interests and the interests of our stockholders when our patents are infringed upon.”

The patents in question cover microprocessor functionality and include US patent No. 6253312, Method and apparatus for double operand load; as well as US patent No. 6253311 and 6754810, Instruction set for bi-directional conversion and transfer of integer and floating-point data. 

As part of the lawsuit, VIA is seeking to have Apple banned by the court from making or importing infringing products and have damages awarded. Apple has not publicly commented on the accusations.

In recent months, Apple has been at the center of the patent wars, publicly feuding with Samsung regarding what it feels is Samsung's imitation of the iPhone and iPad in its Galaxy range of devices. It has managed temporarily halt the sale of Samsung's products in several countries, with lawsuits from both firms still ongoing in over two dozen different countries. Apple is also battling HTC and Motorola, which have filed separate lawsuits covering Apple's entire product line.

Image via Gunnar Pippel / Shutterstock

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https://www.techspot.com/news/45595-via-sues-apple-for-patent-infringement.html

 

[Guest]

Does Apple still run a pirate flag at it's headquarters. Or was that just a 80's thing when they openly stole other peoples tech.

 

[Guest]

Nope!!! its Chuck Testa but...Yes its the same thing with corporation power

 

[SammyJames]

Guest said:
Does Apple still run a pirate flag at it's headquarters. Or was that just a 80's thing when they openly stole other peoples tech.

I have no idea what you are referring to specifically. Perhaps you are discussing Xerox-PARC and Apple's "acquisition" of GUI mouse/pointer technology. Maybe you are, instead, talking about their brush with Microsoft over Windows. At any rate, Apple doesn't get my business -- but it has little to do with who steals what.

It has everything to do with the one thing that they steal from me -- my hard-earned money. When Apple decides to start charging reasonable prices for the their products, I may consider buying Apple. Until then, I'm going to save my cash by investing in parts from NewEgg, TigerDirect, and MicroCenter.

 

[MrAnderson]

It gets more interesting.

As for the pricing for Apple products... I feel they are expensive, but it it serves customers that are less technical. You get a lot of service when you buy their products. That is the one thing I will admit to. Although I like to get the best bang for my buck. The experience is important, but options are more important to me as a customer. To me PCs represent choice, and Apple seeks to take that away frome me... I like to tinker and modify... so that is why they will not be my primary platform. If I had money to throw around I would get a Apple PC just becuase I like technology. But that is not the case.

 

[ET3D]

I think that's just VIA's way to say "BUY ME, PLEASE". I said in the past that Via would be a good choice for Apple to buy. Its value had gone down a little since HTC bought S3 Graphics (which was owned by VIA), but it still has, as it says, thousands of patents relevant to both CPU's and other techs.