Apple Forces Imagination Technologies To Sell, Lifeline In Patent Dispute

When Apple announced that it would be canceling its deal with Imagination Technologies last month, the graphics technology company’s stocks tanked. Now, the firm is scrambling to find a foothold to stop itself from drowning. One of the ways that it is planning to do this is by selling off some of its parts. Another is to engage in a patent dispute with Apple.

As The Verge reports, Imagination is in a lot of trouble. Its breakup with Apple is turning into a huge mess and the company is bleeding out. As a result, the company announced via press release that it will be selling a couple of its businesses in order to at least keep itself afloat.

“While the Group has continued to invest in its MIPS and Ensigma businesses, it has now decided to actively market these businesses for sale, concentrate its resources on PowerVR, and strengthen Imagination’s balance sheet,” the press release reads.

Its second option for surviving is to engage Apple in a dispute related to patents that Imagination holds with regards to graphics technology. According to Imagination, there’s no conceivable way for the iPhone maker to create its own graphics technology without stepping on at least one of their patents. As a result, if Apple wants to create its graphics chips for its iPhone, it will have to license it from Imagination first.

This is a clear attempt by Imagination to retain Apple as a partner of sorts, which is only natural since the smartphone giant is its biggest source of income. So far, there has been very little progress in its attempt at a peaceful resolution, which is why Imagination is now going for the more aggressive route of a patent dispute.

For its part, Apple has actually been stealing engineers from Imagination over the years, no doubt in a bid to prepare for the launch of its own GPU team. The fact that Imagination might not have seen this coming is simply astonishing.