“Apple Inc.’s Mac OS X computer system violates patents held by S3 Graphics Co., while the platform for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad tablet doesn’t, a U.S. agency said in a July 1 ruling made public today,” Susan Decker reports for Bloomberg.
“Mac computers have an operating system that infringes two S3 patents related to graphics chips, U.S. International Trade Commission Judge James Gildea said,” Decker reports. “Notice of the ruling was disclosed July 1 without explaining which products were in violation. Additional information was released today.”
Closely held S3, which agreed this month to be bought [for US$300 million] by Taiwanese smartphone company HTC Corp., makes image-compression technology. If Gildea’s decision is upheld in a review by the full six-member commission, the ITC can ban U.S. imports of some Macs,” Decker reports. “Macs that have Nvidia Corp. graphics processing units have an implied license to the patents, the judge said. Gildea found that two other S3 patents were invalid, as were aspects of the two patents found to be infringed. Fremont, California-based S3’s Texture Compression feature is used in Nintendo Co.’s Wii and Sony Corp.’s PlayStation portable gaming systems.
The iPhone and iPad are no longer under threat of a ban from the S3 case.”
Decker reports, “A different ITC judge found on July 15 that HTC’s Android phones infringed two Apple patents, a decision that could lead to a block of the HTC phones from the U.S. if upheld… The full ruling on the S3 case isn’t yet public as the companies debate what confidential information should be redacted, Gildea said. The conclusion naming specific products was released at Apple’s request, according to the order.”
More details in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “pridon” for the heads up.]