Mobile phone manufacturer HTC has said it will ‘re-evaluate’ its purchase of a controlling stake in graphics chipset manufacturer, S3. The announcement followed a US International Trade Commission ruling which said that Apple had not violated S3 patents in OS X. The patents relate to image compression.
The ruling is a reversal of a preliminary decision in July which favoured S3. Following that ruling, HTC announced that it would purchase a controlling stake in S3. It was widely believed at the the time that HTC’s decision was based on a need to arm itself with patents to fend off Apple, which is currently in dispute with HTC and other Android manufacturers over alleged patent infringement in Google’s mobile device OS.
A decision in favour of S3 by the ITC would have given HTC leverage in its negotiations with Apple. Without that leverage, it appears that S3 is of little value to the Korean handset manufacturer.
