Acer countersues HP in PC patent row

HP: You're a patent infringer. Acer: I know you are but what am I?

By Austin Modine in Mountain View • Get more from this author

Posted in PCs & Chips, 20th July 2007 19:50 GMT

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A patent dispute between Acer and Hewlett-Packard just got a little more litigious as the Taiwan-based computer giant parries two lawsuits filed by HP with a counterclaim of its own.

Four months ago, HP filed a lawsuit in Texas federal court against Acer for alleged infringement of five US patents related to processor tweaks, power-consumption technology and DVD editing tools.

A month later, HP filed yet another lawsuit against Acer, alleging five more patent shenanigans. The patents involved power consumption, bus operations, resolution detection and two concerning temperature management in laptops and desktops.

Acer responded by suing its suppliers Hon Hai, Quanta and Wistron — claiming it is in their contract to help defend against HP.

On Thursday, Acer filed a counterclaim against HP. In the court documents, Acer denies having violated HP patents, and asserts that instead HP has violated patents issued to the Industrial Technology Research Institute, to which Acer holds the rights. The patents in question involve antenna and DVD ROM head technologies.

"With or without a legal proceeding, Acer persists to take all necessary steps to protect and enforce its patented technologies," Acer said in a statement. ®