Back in early 2009, it came to light that Apple may have become an investor in Imagination Technologies who, at the time, had recently announced its PowerVR multi-core graphics processing units designed for mobile devices. Later that year, both Intel and Apple raised their stakes in the company, taking their collective interest in the company to over 25%.
More recently, it became apparent that Apple had discussed the possibility of acquiring Imagination Technologies but stopped short of making an offer for the GPU designer. With Apple contributing to more than half of the company's revenues, it came as a crushing blow when the Cupertino giant disclosed that it had been working on its own graphics design to incorporate into its products, wiping a massive 64% off the value of Imagination's stock.
Despite the major setback, Imagination has maintained a defiant position in its statement released today:
"Apple has not presented any evidence to substantiate its assertion that it will no longer require Imagination's technology, without violating Imagination's patents, intellectual property and confidential information. This evidence has been requested by Imagination but Apple has declined to provide it.
Further, Imagination believes that it would be extremely challenging to design a brand new GPU architecture from basics without infringing its intellectual property rights, accordingly Imagination does not accept Apple's assertions."
With Apple forecasting that it will no longer require the use of Imagination's intellectual property in the next 15 to 24 months, the UK tech company is looking down the barrel of a substantial loss of royalty payments. In the meantime, Imagination has sought to discuss 'potential alternative commercial arrangements' with regards to the existing agreement while readying itself for a potential legal challenge should Apple make unauthorised use of its intellectual property.
Source: The Verge
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