ITC Judge Rules That Apple Infringes Two S3 Graphics Patents

FREMONT, California, July 2, 2011 -

A U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) judge today ruled
that Apple Inc. infringes two patents of S3 Graphics Co. Ltd. “S3
Graphics is pleased to win this portion of the ITC investigation,”
said Dr. Ken Weng, CEO of S3 Graphics.

Judge E. James Gildea found that Apple infringes U.S. Patent No.
6,658,146 directed to systems and methods for compressing images
and U.S. Patent No. 6,683,978 directed to image data formats, both
of which belong to S3 Graphics. In the industry, that technology is
known as S3 Texture Compression (S3TC).

“S3 Graphics has a long history of designing graphics processor
chips and technology,” said Dr.Weng. “S3 Texture Compression has
been implemented in over 1 billion computers, game consoles and
mobile devices worldwide. S3 Texture Compression is invaluable for
advanced 3-D video graphics.”

S3 Texture Compression is widely licensed and
implemented. Since 1998, Microsoft has licensed and
implemented the S3 Graphics technology in DirectX products and now
Windows 7. Sony, Nintendo and others have also licensed and
used the technology in their video game consoles and other
products.

S3 Graphics filed its ITC complaint in May 2010, and an
eight-day trial was held in March 2011. Judge Gildea’s decision
will become the ITC’s final decision on Nov. 1, 2011, unless
modified by a majority vote of the ITC Commissioners.

The case is Certain Electronic Devices With Image Processing
Systems, Components Thereof, and Associated Software, ITC Inv. No.
337-TA-724. The judge’s confidential detailed analysis and
rulings should be received by the attorneys handling the case early
next week.

About S3 Graphics

S3 Graphics Co. Ltd. is the parent company of S3 Graphics Inc.,
based in Fremont, Calif., and other subsidiaries operating in
Shanghai, China and Taipei, Taiwan. For additional information,
contact Jocelyn Farenbaugh at href="mailto:jfarenbaugh@waggeneredstrom.com">jfarenbaugh@waggeneredstrom.com
or see  href="www.s3graphics.com/">www.s3graphics.com

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