ASX Tech Stocks: Archer drops by 14% after patent objection rumours

Semiconductor player Archer Materials (ASX:AXE) dropped 14.46% today, after media reports it failed to disclose objections to its 12CQ chip patent application.

The company released a statement reassuring shareholders the patent application is still active and has not lapsed or been refused.

In February this year and an examination report from IP Australia was issued requesting additional information and some other minor corrections and clarifications to the 12CQ chip related patent application in Australia.

Archer stressed that the issues raised in the report, or objections, are not unusual and often patent examiners request clarifications and additional information – and the company has until 11 February 2022 to provide the information requested.

The company also said it would continue to update the market in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations.

AXE share price fall follows a strong rally which saw it surge from $1.43 to more than $3 following a series of patent udpates.

Elsewhere, video tech company Linius Technologies (ASX:LNU) leads the tech stocks today, up 17.24% after signing a three-year deal with the University of Newcastle.

The deal is for LNU’s Whizzard product, which delivers personalised video solutions designed to assist teaching, learning and research.

In March the company targeted mass adoption of Whizzard in the Australian higher education sector – and is confident this new deal is just the beginning.

“The University of Newcastle trial and the agreement flowing from it has demonstrated the Whizzard product is market ready and paves the way for its mass adoption in the Higher Education market, making it a repeatable product ready for scale,” CEO Chris Richardson said.

“We expect the Whizzard product to gain further market traction over coming months, with a number of other Australian universities now committed to trialling it.”

Essentially, Whizzard uses Linius’ Video Virtualization Engine – which is the world’s first data-driven video technology – to search within the video files, instantly assembling relevant segments of video, simultaneously across all video conferencing platforms.

Plus, it connects to existing learning management systems, video content management platform and web conferencing/collaboration system to build a single searchable personalised library of recorded meeting content.