HTC, Huawei, ZTE did not violate FlashPoint patents

HTC Corp and others did not violate digital camera patents owned by Apple Inc spinoff FlashPoint Technology to make their smartphones, the U.S. International Trade Commission said on Friday.

FlashPoint Technology, which filed the complaint in 2012, had originally accused Taiwan-based HTC,  China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp of infringing four patents for smartphone cameras. One of the patents was dropped as the case proceeded.

An administrative law judge found in a preliminary decision on September 30, 2013, that two HTC smartphones - the HTC Vivid and HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE - infringed upon one FlashPoint patent, while Huawei and ZTE were cleared.

The commission, which reviewed the judge's ruling, said in a final decision on Friday that none of the accused companies infringed the patents and it terminated the investigation.

If the companies had been found guilty of violating the patents, the smartphones could have been banned from the United States market.

The ITC is a popular venue for patent lawsuits because it can ban infringing products from the United States more easily than district courts.

The ITC will rule that a patent has been violated if the accused company infringes the patent and if the patent owner uses the patent in the United States.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz, editing by G Crosse)

GoDaddy eyes initial public offering

BY Greg Roumeliotis AND Nicola Leske

 Web hosting company The GoDaddy Group Inc is preparing for a second run at an initial public offering, according to two people familiar with the matter, as the 2014 tech IPO pipeline continues to grow.

GoDaddy, the Internet domain registrar and web host known for its racy ads, would join a number of high-profile technames expected to go public this year in the wake of Twitter Inc's successful debut. They include "Candy Crush" developer King Digital and cloud services providers Box and Dropbox.

The company is in the process of selecting underwriters for its IPO, one of the two sources said on condition of anonymity.

GoDaddy was not immediately available for comment.

GoDaddy had filed to go public in 2006 but was told at the time that it would be required to take a 50 percent haircut -- a percentage that is subtracted from the par value of assets that are being used as collateral -- on its initial public offering.

The company instead decided to pull its filing, citing unfavorable market conditions.

The company, founded in 1997, was eventually acquired by a private equity consortium led by KKR & Co and Silver Lake in 2011 for $2.25 billion. Silver Lake declined to comment while KKR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other private equity buyers included Technology Crossover Ventures.

GoDaddy, which provides website domain names, is famous for airing bawdy commercials with scantily clad women for the past decade during the Super Bowl.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the plans.