CALDEIRÃO DE BOLSA

Dan Frommer|Dec. 4, 2009, 12:20 PM | 3,130 |8

Apple was told to pay $21.7 million in a patent case against OPTi Inc., a semiconductor vendor-turned-patent troll.

The patent (no. 6.405,291) regards "pre-snoop" cache memory technology.

The decision was made in the plaintiff-friendly U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Because Apple did not willfully infringe on the patent, it does not have to reimburse any attorney fees.

Obviously $21.7 million is couch change to Apple, and they have every incentive to keep fighting a patent troll. So it's possible it will appeal.

Here's the release:

PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec 04, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- OPTi Inc today announced that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued the final judgment in the patent infringement action between OPTi Inc ("OPTi") and Apple Inc. ("Apple").

The final judgment as issued on December 3, 2009 is:

- The court having determined that Apple infringed claims 73, 74 and 88 of U.S. Patent No. 6.405,291 (the "291 patent"); the jury having failed to find any of the asserted claims are invalid; it is Ordered that OPTi recover from Apple a reasonable royalty of $19.0 million in actual damages. The court awarded an additional $2.7 million in pre-judgment interest for a total reward of $21.7 million.

- The court also found that there was no willful infringement in the case and denies any request for the reimbursement of attorney fees.

On January 16, 2007, the Company announced that it filed a complaint against Apple, in the Eastern District of Texas, for infringement of its U.S. patents covering its "pre-snoop" technology. The patent currently at issue in the lawsuit is U.S. patent No. 6,405,291, entitled "Predictive Snooping of Cache Memory for Master-Initiated Accesses". The complaint alleged that Apple infringed the patent by making, selling, and offering for sale various products based on and incorporating Predictive Snooping technology. The Apple action itself is a part of the Company's strategy for pursuing its patent infringement claims relating to its Predictive Snooping technology. Consequently, the final outcome of the Apple case itself will play a role in the Company's strategy for pursuing its patent infringement claims and the Company's ability to realize licensing revenue from its Predictive Snoop patents will be significantly affected if the final outcome of the litigation is not successful. There can be no assurance of the extent to which the outcome of these rulings will lead to positive results in the Apple case or the Company's overall licensing strategy.

Information set forth in this release constitutes and includes forward looking information made within the meaning of Section 27A of the Security Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that involve risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual results including the final outcome of its legal action against Apple and the success of the Company's strategy for pursuing its patent infringement claims may differ significantly from the results discussed in the forward looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including resolution of the remaining phases of the Apple litigation and possible appeals, the Company's ongoing efforts to enforce its intellectual property rights including its current litigation efforts, the willingness of the parties the Company believes are infringing its patents to settle our claims against them, the amount of litigation costs the Company must incur in pursuing its patent infringement claims, the degree to which technology subject to our intellectual property rights is used by other companies in the personal computer and semiconductor industries and our ability to obtain license revenues from them, changes in intellectual property law in such industries and in general and other matters. Readers are encouraged to refer to "Factors Affecting Earnings and Stock Price" found in the Company's latest Form10-K and 10-Q filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Atomez Escreveu:Alguém que perceba disto poderá explicar porque é que hoje sem nenhuma razão aparente, totalmente contra a corrente do mercado, a AAPL caiu 1.5% nos últimos 15 minutos do dia??? E com um alto volume???

Será que alguém despejou maçãs para activar stops logo abaixo dos 200 (ali nos 199.5) para depois as ir apanhar mais abaixo???

Apple fell 2.6% on Dec. 1 in an ugly close that left investors deeply suspicious

Apple had already dropped sharply twice on Tuesday — once at 10 a.m. and again at 3:25 p.m. — when, 12 minutes before the close, the volume of trading suddenly spiked and the stock went into freefall.

More than 3.5 million shares changed hands in a fury of last-minute trading, and when the dust cleared, Apple had fallen 5.27 points (2.6%) for the day to close at $196.97. Nearly 3 of those points were lost in the final 12 minutes, when $2.66 billion of the company's market capitalization evaporated in less time than it takes to drink a latte.

What happened? That's for the SEC to determine, assuming they care. But investors were deeply suspicious. In a day when the Dow climbed more than 126 points, there was no news bad enough to trigger a raid on Apple, no downgrades or negative analyst reports.

There was, however, some interesting back-channel chatter on the finance boards and among hedge fund managers. A partial timeline:


3:24 p.m. A message posted on Yahoo Finance's AAPL board mentions a "potential UBS downgrade"
3:26 p.m. Another Yahoo rumor, this one that Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, a long-time Apple bull, is set to downgrade the stock this week.
3:28 p.m. TheStreet carries a brief note from hedge fund Manager Timothy Collins that reads in full: "Call me crazy, but I think Apple (AAPL) actually tests $195 (give or take a few cents). I will be a buyer on any bounce off that level, but I am holding off buying here. Just food for thought."
3:48 p.m. Yet another Yahoo Finance post, since deleted by Yahoo, claims that Apple is recalling large numbers of iPhones due to battery problems.
There's plenty more where that came from, including rumors that Steve Jobs needs another organ and that Apple's Cyber Monday sales were terrible. (In fact, traffic at its online store was up 39% year over year on Black Friday and 71% on Cyber Monday; see here.)

Yahoo Finance's chat rooms, of course, are notorious breeding grounds for disinformation, a place where day traders toss around rumors and insults in cryptic messages that are impossible to trace. It's unlikely, however, that any of the participants in this game have holdings deep enough to move a few million shares.

Timothy Collins, however, is in a different league. He's a hedge fund manager who writes for a website started by Mad Money's Jim Cramer, a man with a long history with Apple (see here and here). Reached on Wednesday morning, Collins denied having a hand in triggering a run on Apple.

"Though I am flattered that Apple investors think I have that much influence," he wrote, "it does give me a chuckle. I think the reason for the stock drop had more to do with a piece at 2.50pm EST. [Here he inserts a link to an AppleInsider story about speculation that the iPhone is going next to T-Mobile, not Verizon.]"

Piper Jaffray's Munster, for his part, dismisses the possibility that this or any other Apple story was the catalyst for the raid. "In my opinion investors were stretching for reasons," he told the Wall Street Journal's Matt Phillips. "My take, there was a big seller for who knows what reason. People got worried they were missing something, and the stock tumbled."

One more note: Bloomberg reported Monday that since August, hedge funds have been "shoveling money into stocks as individuals exit at the fastest rate in a year." The funds' most popular stocks, according to Goldman Sachs’s survey of regulatory filings: Pfizer (PFE), Bank of America (BAC) and Apple.

"Yes, hedge funds are buying stocks," Morgan Creek Capital Management's Mark Yusko told Bloomberg. "But they’re also shorting stocks in record numbers and buying put options in record levels."

Apple shares bounced back in after-hours trading Tuesday and opened higher on Wednesday. By midmorning, they were going for $201.23, up 4.26 points (2.1%) from Tuesday's close.

cannot Escreveu:

Atomez Escreveu:Alguém que perceba disto poderá explicar porque é que hoje sem nenhuma razão aparente, totalmente contra a corrente do mercado, a AAPL caiu 1.5% nos últimos 15 minutos do dia??? E com um alto volume???

Será que alguém despejou maçãs para activar stops logo abaixo dos 200 (ali nos 199.5) para depois as ir apanhar mais abaixo???

e ainda há que diga que não podem chover maçãs!

abraço

Atomez Escreveu:Alguém que perceba disto poderá explicar porque é que hoje sem nenhuma razão aparente, totalmente contra a corrente do mercado, a AAPL caiu 1.5% nos últimos 15 minutos do dia??? E com um alto volume???

Será que alguém despejou maçãs para activar stops logo abaixo dos 200 (ali nos 199.5) para depois as ir apanhar mais abaixo???

Ulisses Pereira Escreveu:Não deixa de ser curioso não gostares. Uma LT tem que ter 3 toques para ser válida e consistente tecnicamente. Se não gostas do 4º toque, as LT`s praticamente não servem para nada.

Um abraço,
Ulisses

Ulisses Pereira Escreveu:Não deixa de ser curioso não gostares. Uma LT tem que ter 3 toques para ser válida e consistente tecnicamente. Se não gostas do 4º toque, as LT`s praticamente não servem para nada.

Um abraço,
Ulisses

The iPhone's got Seoul

Apple's smartphone lands with a bang in Korea as pre-orders approach 65,000



After China's muted reception, Koreans greeted the launch of the iPhone Saturday in the style to which Apple (AAPL) has become accustomed. Hundreds of customers lined up, some as long as 26 hours in advance, to pick up the country's first batch of 1,000 iPhones amid helium-filled balloons, flashing strobe lights and a blaring rockabilly band.

According to the AP, KT Corp. (KTC), the country's second-largest carrier, had received an estimated 65,000 pre-orders — a number likely to loosen Samsung and LG Electronics' tight grip on the local mobile phone market. Between them, the two manufacturers (the world's No. 2 and No. 3 cellphone makers after Nokia), had sold some 400,000 smartphones in Korea at prices considerably higher than they charge in other countries.


In this market, the 32 GB iPhone 3GS — which KT is selling for $317 on a $38 per month two-year contract and giving away free with a $112/mos. contract — is a relative bargain. The Korea Times reports that Samsung has already lowered prices on some models in what looks like the start of a smartphone price war.

Korea, writes iPhonAsia's Dan Butterfield, "has a sophisticated group of consumers who are eager to take full advantage of iPhone’s superior user interface and application offerings."