Salutica Accuses Apple of Patent Infringement, Files Lawsuit in Singapore

Salutica Bhd, which is involved in a legal suit with Apple's unit in Malaysia for alleged patent infringement, on Thursday filed a similar suit against the US tech giant's Singapore-based subsidiary, Apple South Asia Pte Ltd.

The new suit was filed at the Singapore's High Court by Salutica's wholly-owned unit, Salutica Allied Solutions Sdn Bhd (SAS), which manufactures mobile communication products, wireless electronic and lifestyle devices and vertical integration processes covering design and development.

SAS is seeking, among others, a declaration that its patent is valid and has been infringed by Apple South Asia, and an injunction to restrain the Apple firm from making, disposing, using, importing or keeping products that infringe the patent.

SAS is also seeking an inquiry on damages, or alternatively at SAS’ option, an account of profits made by the Apple unit, arising from the alleged infringement of the patent.

"The FOBO Tag and FOBO Tire which are SAS’ own products, incorporates a number of Bluetooth technologies invented and/or developed by SAS. In particular, the pairing information of the FOBO Tag and FOBO Tire (being Bluetooth accessories) can be transferred to a new device and/or shared across multiple smart devices without the need to reinitiate the pairing process (CrossPair Technology)," said Salutica in a bourse filing.

Salutica said SAS had on Nov 6, 2023 — through its Singaporean solicitors Amica Law LLC — issued a letter of demand to Apple South Asia in respect of the alleged infringement of the patent.

In Malaysia, SAS had in January 2022 commenced a patent infringement claim relating to the CrossPair Technology in Malaysia "against products sold and/or offered for sale by Apple’s related company that are identical to and/or highly similar to the infringing products".

Salutica said the new suit in Singapore is not expected to have any business and operational impact on the group and SAS.

“Apart from the amount claimed by SAS and the corresponding legal costs, the suit is not expected to have any other material financial impact on the company for the financial year ending June 30, 2024," it said.

At the time of writing, Salutica shares were trading 12 sen or 15.72% higher at 92 sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM392.38 million. Year to date, the stock has soared 253.85%.