Broadcom Sues To Stop Intel Sales
(09/26/00, 9:25 a.m. ET)
By Reuters
LOS ANGELES -- High-speed communications chip maker Broadcom asked a California superior court for a preliminary injunction against rival Intel on Monday to stop it from shipping or selling products Broadcom said are the result of stolen trade secrets.
In the latest blow in the legal battles between Broadcom Corp. (stock: BRCM) and Intel Corp. (stock: INTC), Broadcom seeks to halt Intel chip sales, alleging Intel used Broadcom chips to advance lagging development of its own products.
"What we want is for an order that would put Broadcom back in the position it would otherwise have enjoyed if Intel hadn't employed Broadcom's technology," said Bill Blanning, a spokesman for Broadcom, Irvine, Calif.
Broadcom's suit, which names Intel, Santa Clara, Calif., and its subsidiary semiconductor supplier Level One Communications Inc., said Intel obtained confidential Broadcom-developed communications chips from a third party and used them to accelerate development of its own chips.
"Had Intel not resorted to these tortuous actions, its competing products would have been delayed for many months, if not years, and it would have lost major customers to Broadcom," the suit says.
An Intel spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
The suit asks the court to prohibit marketing and sales of several Intel products, including its Media Access Controller (MAC) and Gigabit Ethernet Physical Layer Interface chips, both key components for connecting to the speediest available network connections over copper wires.
It also asks the court to appoint a special master, an intermediary to monitor Intel to ensure its compliance.
Broadcom's suit alleges smoking-gun e-mails and testimony from Intel employees portrays Intel as "attempting to play catch-up by any means necessary."
Intel filed suit against Broadcom on Aug. 30 in U.S. District Court in Delaware, it has been systematically wooing Intel's employees and copying its technology as part of "a carefully crafted plan."
Broadcom's preliminary injunction follows from a June counterclaim filed against a March Intel suit, in which Intel sought to block Broadcom from hiring three former Intel employees.
These legal battles come amid stiff competition between the two chipmakers. Both have new MAC chips on the market, the chief components of network interface cards used to access the latest high-speed Gigabit Ethernet networks.
At stake is a "critical design win," according to the suit, as customers choose which of the rivals' next-generation networking products they will adopt in coming years.
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