Patent

LG Electronics, Quanta agree to end patent disputes

LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's second-largest electronics maker, and Quanta Computer Inc. agreed to stop patent disputes over technology used in personal computers, ending litigation that started eight years ago.

Quanta will pay royalties to the Korean maker and the companies will drop two patent-related lawsuits, Seoul-based LG said in a statement today, without disclosing financial terms. The patented technology allows data transfers between computers and peripheral devices such as printers, LG said.

LG in 2000 accused Quanta, the world's largest maker of notebook computers, of infringing its patents through the use of microprocessors and chipsets of Intel Corp., which is paying licensing fees to the Korean company. Quanta said it shouldn't be forced to give royalties because Intel already pays.

The U.S. Supreme Court sided with Taoyuan, Taiwan-based Quanta in June this year, ruling that LG can't demand fees from both Intel and the computer makers that use the chipmaker's semiconductors in their machines.

“Despite the U.S. decision, the agreement means that Quanta acknowledges LG's technology,” Lee Jeong Hwan, head of LG's intellectual property center, said in the statement. Carol Hsu, a spokeswoman for Quanta, declined to comment.

LG Electronics fell 0.5 percent to 105,500 won as of 11:54 a.m. in Seoul trading, while Quanta was unchanged at NT48.70 in Taipei.

(Published by Bloomberg - august 26, 2008)