HP Sues Acer for Patent Infringement

Hewlett-Packard Co., the world’s largest PC vendor, filed yesterday suit against PC maker Acer, alleging the infringement of five patents. They cover technologies such as read/write optical drives, power management in laptops, and digital bus arrangement, according to copies of the patents filed with the complaint.

The HP’s complaint seeks to prevent Acer from selling computers in the United states. Both Acer and its US subsidiary, Acer America, were named in the complaint, Silicon reports.

Acer says it is currently conducting a full investigation of these allegations made by Hewlett-Packard.

“As one of the world’s leading PC brands, Acer has obtained substantial intellectual property. Acer also expects others to respect our intellectual property and is prepared to take all necessary steps to protect and enforce our patented technologies against unlicensed use”, the company published today.

Acer was world’s fourth PC maker in Q4 2006, but it clocked the strongest growth by any top ten-ranked computer company, according to market researcher IDC.

[…] Earlier this year, the world’s top PC maker HP, sued the world’s fourth but fast growing Acer for patent infringement twice (1st time, 2nd time). […]