AMD and Alliance Semiconductor Settle Patent Lawsuit
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 14, 2000--AMD (NYSE:AMD) and Alliance Semiconductor Corporation (Nasdaq:ALSC) today announced the settlement of AMD's patent infringement lawsuit against Alliance. AMD filed the case in 1996, asserting that Alliance's Flash memory devices infringed two AMD Flash memory patents. Under terms of the settlement, both Alliance and AMD will drop their claims and counterclaims against each other and Alliance will pay AMD an undisclosed sum for past damages. AMD and Alliance will enter into a royalty bearing license agreement for future sales of two existing Flash memory products. Also as part of the settlement, the two companies have submitted to the San Jose District Court a consent judgment that finds the two AMD patents are both valid and enforceable and that certain Alliance Flash memory devices infringed AMD's patents.
In the wake of the settlement, AMD and Alliance will discuss future joint projects that could take advantage of AMD's strength in the Flash memory market, and Alliance's strength in the SRAM market.
The two disputed patents are United States Patents Nos. 5,077,691 (relating to AMD's negative gate erase technology, issued Dec. 1991) and 5,126,808 (relating to AMD's sector architecture, issued June 1992). Both are fundamental patents that were the result of AMD's early innovations in Flash memory technology and represent critical technologies required to produce competitive products in the Flash memory market today.
"This judgment clearly recognizes the importance and validity of AMD's intellectual property," said Walid Maghribi, group vice president of AMD's Memory Group. "We will continue to enforce and vigorously protect our valuable patent portfolio and we are extremely pleased that our patents have withstood an extensive legal challenge."
"I am pleased that AMD and Alliance have been able to reverse the tide from a legal battle to a potential partnership where we can both benefit from each other's strengths," said Dr. Ritu Shrivastava, vice president of technology development and general manager of Flash Products for Alliance Semiconductor. "Alliance is a leading supplier of memory products, and is one of the few companies in the world with expertise in all three major CMOS memory segments: SRAMs, DRAMs and Flash. Our resources and energies are much better spent creating new products and markets which leverage our expertise. We do not believe that the settlement will have substantial impact on our Flash product development strategy or the financial performance of our company." |
