Gateway Turns Up the Heat in Running Dispute With HP
Gateway Inc. said Tuesday that it had asked U.S. trade officials to bar imports of computers made by rival Hewlett-Packard Co.
Gateway, in a complaint filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, claims that Hewlett-Packard computers made in Asia and Mexico infringe three patents held by Gateway. The patents relate to audio controls, improved images and personal-computer-based entertainment systems.
The complaint, received by the agency Friday, is only the latest dispute between the two computer companies.
Hewlett-Packard filed a complaint with the trade commission in May. The two also have accused each other of infringing additional patents in a lawsuit in federal court in San Diego.
“This is part of the typical litigation process,” said Joe Beyers, Hewlett-Packard’s vice president of intellectual property licensing.
“The bottom line is we have a very, very strong position. Our patents are asserted against their entire product line, and these are very narrow ones they’ve asserted against us.”
The three patents asserted by Poway, Calif.-based Gateway are not part of the San Diego lawsuit.
The battle between the two companies started after March 11, when Gateway bought EMachines Inc., which licensed some of the patents involved in the San Diego case from Hewlett-Packard.
“We’ll match Hewlett-Packard step for step in this dispute,” said David Hallisey, a Gateway spokesman. “They chose to take this approach with Gateway back on March 25,” when HP filed the San Diego suit.
“We intend to strongly contest their charges and defend Gateway’s intellectual property,” Hallisey said.
Gateway was the fourth-largest personal computer maker in the U.S. in 2003, after leader Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard and IBM Corp.
On Tuesday, Gateway shares slipped 16 cents to $4.23, and shares of Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard fell 37 cents to $20.04. Both are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
