Slaughter and May advised Google on the competition law aspects of its US$1.1 billion acquisition of certain assets of HTC Corporation (HTC) related to the design, engineering, certification and testing of smartphones. In particular, Google acquired certain assets of HTC, including employees and a non-exclusive licence for intellectual property rights of HTC.
Announced on 21 September 2017, the transaction continues the decade-long strategic relationship between Google and HTC around the development of premium smartphones. The transaction also represents a significant investment by Google in Taiwan as a key innovation and technology hub.
The transaction received clearance from the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission and was completed in January 2018.
