Bill, Re: "Well, AMD also got the right to Alpha patents, did they now?"
No, they did not. As you probably know, there are many patents involved with the Alpha design. Some of them Dirk Meyer, et al took with them when they went to AMD. Others were of a cross-license nature, and AMD probably has access to those, too. However, Intel ends up with the majority of patents for having acquired the project as a whole from Compaq, and for having acquired the engineers who own their own set of patents. And, besides coming with the patents, the engineers bring with them the most important asset of all - their own experience in the field, their own ideas, and their own creativity - and with that, Intel can create far more than with paper IP.
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