SINGAPORE (Dec 19): Loss-making audio product company Creative Technology is playing the patent card again, seeking total damages of nearly US$57.7 million (S$83.4 million).

On Dec 17, the company announced that its subsidiary ZiiLabs Inc, which holds more than 80 patents in graphics and processor technology, has filed complaints with the United States International Trade Commission.

The company is seeking injunctions on Qualcomm, Sony, Motorola, MediaTek, LG, Lenovo and AMD.

The company has also filed patent infringement lawsuits against these same companies in Texas, seeking damages worth a total of US$29.8 million.

Most recently on Sept 3, Creative filed a similar patent infringement claim on ARM, seeking damages worth a total of US$27.9 million.

Creative has scored victories in defending its intellectual property rights before.

On October 30, 2015, the company announced that Apple has agreed to settle one such suit by paying licensing fees amounting to 23 US cents per share, which were booked in the 2Q15 quarter.

Creative has picked fights with Samsung too and won. On Jan 30, the company announced that Samsung has agreed to pay licensing fees of 14 US cents per share.

More than a decade ago, Creative netted the biggest gain when Apple paid US$100 million to settle allegations that it’s the user interface of its iPod music players were copied from Creative’s Zen line of players.

For the three months ended Sept 30 2016, the company reported a 23% y-o-y drop in sales to US$17.25 million, although losses narrowed by 55% to US$6.2 million.

Year to date, Creative’s shares are down nearly 12% to close at 96.5 cents as of Dec 16, giving the company a market value of just over S$72 million.