ITC Dismisses S3 Graphics Complaint Against Apple

The US International Trade Commission has dismissed S3 Graphics' first complaint against Apple in its entirety, reports FOSS Patents.

According to an official notice "no violation [...] has been shown [...] and that the investigation is terminated"; however, the ITC did not specify why they overruled the Administrative Law Judge.


FOSS Patents suggests that perhaps it could be based "on a finding of invalidity of the asserted patent claims (from four different but somewhat related patents) and/or a finding of non-infringement and/or patent exhaustion (i.e., Apple not infringing because it uses graphics chips that are properly licensed to the asserted patent claims)."

Notably, HTC is in the process of acquiring S3 Graphics and no doubt they were hoping that their acquisition would provide additional ammunition against Apple in court.