KUALA LUMPUR (July 12): Electronics component maker Salutica Bhd's share price surged as much as 32.23% or 19.5 sen to 80 sen in Wednesday (July 12) morning trade, after it announced that the hearing for Apple Malaysia Sdn Bhd's disqualification application has been fixed for Aug 23, 2023. 

Salutica, which manufactures wireless Bluetooth products, had initiated legal action against Apple Malaysia in January 2022, claiming that the defendant had used a wireless pairing process that is similar to the content of its patent. Salutica further claimed that the pairing method used by the defendant infringes upon its 2012 patent. 

At 11.21am, the company's shares saw a slight retreat to 79 sen, resulting in a market valuation of approximately RM332.7 million. This represents a notable increase of 18.5 sen or 30.58% from the previous day's closing price of 60.5 sen, positioning it as the fourth top gainer on Bursa Malaysia. 

Meanwhile, its trading volume also swelled almost 10 times its 200-day trading average to 63.39 million shares, ranking it the second-most traded stock on the local bourse. 

On Tuesday (July 11), the group announced that the Kuala Lumpur High Court had directed Salutica and Apple Malaysia to file submissions by July 25, 2023 and submissions in reply by Aug 8, 2023 in relation to the defendant's disqualification application. 

Besides the hearing of the disqualification application on Aug 23, a case management for Apple Malaysia's application for a protective order will also be held. 
 
Salutica is seeking aggravated and/or exemplary damages, and an account of profits made by Apple Malaysia and its related companies, subsidaries and/or affiliates in respect of the products using the allegedly infringing technology. 

In response, Apple Malaysia said Salutica's system and method did not fall under the scope of the relevant patent claim, and that the patent was invalid as it was not patentable, because it was neither novel and/or inventive. 

Apple Malaysia is also seeking for the patent to be cancelled, revoked, and removed from the Register of Patents in Malaysia. 

In April, Cheong Siew Chyuan emerged as a substantial shareholder in Salutica, acquiring 10.18 million shares between April 10-18 at 68 sen to 87.5 sen apiece. He currently holds a direct stake of 19.37 million or 4.57%, and an indirect stake of 16.13 million shares, or 3.81%.