US District Court Announced Taiwanese PC System Assemblers’ Success in the Patent Infringement Lawsuit Filed by LG.

E041211X1 Jan. 2005（E62）

Korean-based LG sued 4 PC system assemblers in Taiwan, including AsusTek Computer Inc., Compal Electronics, First International Computer, Inc., Quanta Computer Inc., and their branches or cooperative companies in the US, on April 6, 2000 for their infringement on LG’s 6 patents. At the end of November 2004, US court announced that LG’s claim of patent infringement was not sustained, which sets up the first case of Taiwanese pc system operators’ success in combating foreign operators’ groundless patent infringement accusation. Rumor has it that AsusTek has paid for a settlement, and the settlement amount is estimated to reach several tens of millions US dollars.

The judge of District Court in California, Claudia Wilken, on November 30, 2004 rendered a written judgment to the effect that Intel and LG had concluded a cross-license agreement, so Taiwanese assemblers’ claim of patent exhaustion doctrine is indeed applicable to the invention of apparatus and device and method. Therefore, LG’s complaint against the above-identified 4 assemblers should not be sustained. Besides, since judge Wilken holds a new interpretation of patent exhaustion doctrine, this case receives full attention from the US patent industry. (2004.12)

CYJ/CCS