The Mac OSX platform from Apple has been held to have violated a number of patents owned by S3 Graphics. However, the iOS platform which is used in Apple manufactured mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad doesn’t violate them, adjudged a US judicial agency in its ruling on the 1st of July, the details of which went public today. James Gildea, the US International Trade Commission judge hearing the case said that the operating system of OSX infringes upon two patents concerning graphics chips which are held by S3.
The notice of the verdict was declared on the first of July; however the products which were in violation weren’t exposed. S3, which was bought by the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC this month, develops technology for image compression. In case Gildea’s verdict is upheld by the full committee comprising of six members, the imports of some Macs in the US could be banned by the ITC.
Macs are a major source of Apple’s revenue, generating $17.5 billion in sales during the last year, comprising 27% of Apple’s total revenue. Those Mac computers which feature graphics processing units manufactured by NVIDIA Corp. get an implied license from the patent, according to the judge. It was discovered by Gildea that two other patents of S3 were invalid, along with some of the aspects of the two patents which were infringed upon.
The Texture Compression feature of California-based S3 is also used by the Wii and PlayStation gaming consoles manufactured by Nintendo and Sony respectively. It has been reported that the S3 case doesn’t threaten the iPad and the iPhone any longer. Both the devices together accounted for more than 46% of Apple’s revenue during the last fiscal year.
HTC bought S3 at the start of this month after paying $300 million in order to strengthen its position in another patent dispute with Apple. It was found by another ITC judge on the 15th of July that the Android based phones manufactured by HTC violated two of Apple’s patents and if the decision is upheld, it could lead to a ban on HTC phones in the US as well as a hefty fine. Another complaint against HTC was filed by Apple on the 15th of July targeting the company’s new tablet computer, the Flyer, along with the Android based phones that it produces.
