hp settles acer patent litigation
10 June 2008

Last October, Acer said it had sued Hewlett-Packard Development for patent infringement, alleging violation of seven patents.
HP sued Acer the previous March for patent infringement, aiming to stop the Taiwan firm from selling some products in the US. That drew a countersuit from Acer in July.
As a result of the settlement agreement, each action concerning Acer and HP will be dismissed, the two companies said.
"The impact from the settlement was not big and we think both Acer and HP will continue to focus on their core businesses," an Acer spokesman said.

He said he was not aware of any financial terms to the settlement.  Investors largely ignored the settlement on Monday as a Wall Street plunge fuelled strong selling among Taiwan technology shares on fears over slowing demand.  At 12.42am EDT, Acer shares fell 2.3% while the main TAIEX share index lost 1.8%.

Acer said last week its sales would grow by more than 50% this year, raising its previous forecast as demand for laptops remains robust despite consumers feeling the pinch from an economic slowdown and rising fuel and food prices.

Reuters, www.itweb.co.za