Flush with cash , but not a fan of spending it on litigation ? We hear you, and apparently so does HTC. The Taiwanese firm announced today it’ll purchase S3 Graphics and its patent portfolio from VIA for a cool $300 million, giving the smartphone maker 265 new weapons in its IP arsenal. Also part of the deal is a perpetual license to the patents’ former owner, so that the chipset manufacturer can keep cranking out silicon without fear of legal reprisal. Given HTC’s competitors recently went on a giant patent shopping spree , we’d surmise that strengthening its warchest is, dare we say, quietly brilliant. HTC acquires S3 Graphics and its prodigious patent portfolio, dares you to sue originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 23:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink