US ITC rules Apple's Mac OS X infringes S3 patents

THE SCORE is 1-1 between Apple and HTC in their patent tussle, as HTC has won a ruling that Apple's Mac OS X infringes S3 graphics texture compression patents.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that S3, which was recently purchased by HTC for $300m, had its texture compression patents infringed by Apple's Mac OS X operating system. However the ITC administrative judge threw out claims that Apple's IOS infringed S3 patents.

If the ITC's full six-member commission upholds the ruling, then the ITC could in theory ban the import of some Apple Mac computers that run Mac OS X. Apparently Macs that have Nvidia graphics cards are off the hook because by purchasing the boards Apple acquired a licence for the patents.

Following this decision, Winston Yung, HTC's CFO said that the Taiwanese firm is willing to negotiate with Apple over its ongoing patents dispute. Yung told Bloomberg, "We're open to having discussions."

Apparently Yung is not very keen on a courtroom showdown, saying, "We are open to all sorts of solutions, as long as the solution and the terms are fair and reasonable, [...] on and off we've had discussions with Apple, even before the initial determination came out."

While Yung might be extending the hand of diplomacy, he was unaware of any talks taking place between Apple and HTC since the two ITC rulings, the first of which went Apple's way.

Even though Apple could be found liable by the full ITC commission, it is highly unlikely that it will ban Macs running Mac OS X from entering the US. It is much more likely that this will be used as leverage by HTC in royalty negotiations with Apple about its growing smartphone business. µ