Apple Taking OPTi to the Mat
“The Apple lawsuit is a part of the Company’s strategy for pursuing its patent infringement claims relating to its Predictive Snooping technology. Consequently, the outcome of the Apple case, and any subsequent appeal, will play a role in the Company’s strategy for pursuing its patent infringement claims and the Company’s ability to realize licensing revenue from its Predictive Snoop patents. There can be no assurance of the extent to which the outcome of these rulings will lead to positive results in the Apple case or the Company’s overall licensing strategy.”
If OPTi’s intellectual property lawsuit against Apple is truly the foundation of the company’s licensing strategy, then OPTi best prepare for its strategy to be shaken. Apple is appealing a recent court decision that found it guilty of infringing OPTi’s patents, and the $21.7 million in damages and prejudgment interest that accompanied it.
Apple (AAPL) has argued throughout the case that the OPTi patent at issue–U.S. Patent 6,405,291, “Predictive snooping of cache memory for master-initiated accesses–should be declared invalid, if not because of prior art, then because it fails the obviousness test. Presumably, this is the tack Apple will take in the appeal as well, perhaps with greater success. If not, well, $21.7 million is a near-pittance for a company with some $30 billion in the bank.
