Defendant

E-TEN Information Systems Co., Ltd.

1 case as defendant.

Cases
1
Active
0
1 closed
Filed
—
Top venue
ITC
1 case
Also appears as a plaintiff in 1 case → View as plaintiff

Company profile

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Company overview. E-TEN Information Systems Co., Ltd. (倚天資訊股份有限公司; also styled E-TEN Corp. or E-Ten) was a Taipei, Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer founded in 1985 and publicly listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE 2432) from 2000. In March 2008 Acer Inc. agreed to acquire it in an all-stock deal valued at roughly US$290–295 million (NT$9 billion); the deal closed later that year and Acer discontinued the E-TEN and Glofiish brands (Wikipedia; Acer press release; NYT DealBook). E-TEN no longer operates as an independent entity. Employee-count and revenue figures for its independent period could not be verified from the sources reviewed.

Products / operations. E-TEN began with Chinese-language input systems for DOS and related software and peripherals (a publishing application, a laser printer). It moved into handhelds in 1997 with a stock-quoting "financial pager," then became an OEM/ODM and branded maker of Microsoft Windows Mobile Pocket PCs, PDA phones and smartphones — sold under the Glofiish brand from 2006 (X500, X600, X800, M800, DX900, X610) — plus GPS devices and DAB receivers. Its devices combined GSM/GPRS/EDGE, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS; Russia was its largest market (Wikipedia; InformationWeek; DigiTimes).

Patent-litigation posture. E-TEN is an operating company, not a patent assertion entity. The tracked data show one case as defendant and one as plaintiff — both arising from the same dispute — and it asserted no patents of its own. It was drawn into a GPS/A-GPS patent fight as a downstream device maker, and the matters ran through the ITC and Federal Circuit rather than a plaintiff-friendly district court such as the Eastern District of Texas.

Notable cases. In Certain GPS Devices and Products Containing Same, Inv. No. 337-TA-602, Global Locate, Inc. (later acquired by Broadcom) accused SiRF, E-TEN, Pharos, MiTAC and Mio of infringing six A-GPS patents; E-TEN was alleged to infringe by importing consumer devices containing SiRF chips. The Commission found a Section 337 violation in January 2009 and issued remedial orders. E-TEN joined the appeal decided in SiRF Technology, Inc. v. ITC, 601 F.3d 1319 (Fed. Cir. 2010), which affirmed. Broadcom named E-TEN in a 2010 enforcement complaint but later withdrew those allegations (USITC notices; Federal Circuit opinion).

Global Locate, Inc. et al. v. SiRF Technology, Inc. et al.

Complainants prevailed; violation found; limited exclusion order and cease-and-desist orders; investigation terminated.
Docket:
337-TA-602
Terminated:
2009-01-15

ITC Section 337 investigation initiated May 7, 2007, asserting six patents including U.S. Patent No. 6,606,346 against SiRF and other GPS device respondents. The ALJ and Commission found a violation as to all six patents, upheld Global Locate's standing to assert the '346 patent, and issued a limited exclusion order and cease-and-desist orders.