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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill Jackson who wrote (78900)	11/7/1999 7:56:00 AM
From: steve harris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574061

Bill, I had brought it up before and the church of iNhEL wishes it would go away. techweb.com "It gradually became apparent, however, that there were substantial similarities between Pentium Pro and Alpha. We conducted a thorough and rigorous examination of the data and we concluded that Digital patents were being infringed." Looks like iNTEL stole the p6 from DEC. iNhEL doesn't have a leg to stand on IF these lawsuits go to trial. May 13, 1997, -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digital Hits Intel With Patent Suit By Larry Dignan NEW YORK -- Digital Equipment said Tuesday that it filed a lawsuit charging Intel with infringement of 10 of the company's patents to boost the performance of its Pentium, Pentium Pro and Pentium II processors. Digital, which filed its suit in the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, is seeking an injunction and undisclosed monetary damages, including triple damages for Intel's willful violation of the patents. The injunction would prohibit Intel of Santa Clara, Calif., from using Digital's patented technology in its present and future microprocessor products. "We haven't seen the complaint yet, but we're completely surprised by this," said Chuck Mulloy, an Intel spokesman. "It's surprising especially since we've had a long-standing customer and technical relationship. It totally came out of the blue." "This lawsuit is essential to protect the billions of dollars Digital and its shareholders have invested in the development of leading-edge computing and microprocessor technology," said Thomas C. Siekman, Digital vice president and general counsel in a statement. "Our goal is very simple: stop Intel from unlawfully using Digital patent technology in its present and future microprocessor products," said Digital Chairman Robert Palmer in a conference call with analysts and media on Tuesday. "The decision to file suit in this case was not made lightly. Intel is a long-time Digital customer and a major supplier, as well as a competitor. It is a very successful company and I respect much of what they have accomplished. But Intel is making unlawful use of Digital technology, and I have an obligation to our shareholders, employees, customers and partners to defend our intellectual property rights and the benefits of our research and development efforts," Palmer said. He said that Digital and Intel had been in negotiations in 1990 and 1991 about licensing DEC technology to Intel. Digital provided Intel information about the design and performance of its Alpha architecture on a confidential basis to convince Intel to partner with Digital. But in November 1991, Intel rejected DEC's offer. Two years later, in 1993, Intel introduced the Pentium family of processors which fueled the company's incredible growth. "I recall the introduction of the Pentium Pro in November 1995 very clearly because I remember being surprised by the quantum leap in performance that Intel achieved, a performanceàmuch similar in magnitude to the one that Digital had achieved three years earlier with Alpha," said Palmer. "The business and trade press was filled with statements expressing surprise that Intel had engineered such a dramatic improvement. My natural assumption was that Intel had developed its own innovations of high-performance microprocessor technology. "It gradually became apparent, however, that there were substantial similarities between Pentium Pro and Alpha. We conducted a thorough and rigorous examination of the data and we concluded that Digital patents were being infringed." Palmer said he really became energized when he read an article in The Wall Street Journal on August 26, 1996, which quoted Intel's two top executives talking "openly about the company's practice of copying computer systems architectures and their microprocessors." "Among other things, the article reported that Intel had done little original research in microprocessor architecture design. "Now I do not mind competing against Intel, but I would rather not compete against our own technology," Palmer said. The Digital chief said DEC did not underestimate the challenge of taking legal action against a company with the resources and market power of Intel, "but we are fully prepared to pursue this case and we are confident that we will succeed. Asked if he had any discussions with Intel management at all prior to the launch of the lawsuit, Palmer said: "I sent Andy Grove an e-mail this morning and I faxed him a note and I intend to talk to him later. Given that the time zones are quite different, it seemed inappropriate to wake him to talk it over with him." Palmer would not be drawn on the extent of the damages Digital is seeking, saying only that the numbers were large and related to the benefits Intel had enjoyed from "unlawfully" using DEC's technologies. The Digital suit is the latest cloud hovering above Intel. Last week, Intel announced it would ship its Pentium II processor despite reports of a flaw, which has put some PC makers in limbo. Last Friday, Intel said it would fix the flaw with software. The patents Digital is suing over relate to cache management, branch prediction and high-speed instruction processing, and were issued by the U.S. patent and trademark office between 1988 and 1996. "As a result of its infringement of our patents, Intel has strengthened its monopoly in the X86 market and is seeking to extend its monopoly to higher-performance microprocessors. This conduct threatens the competitive environment essential for continued innovation and growth in the computer industry," said Digital of Maynard, Mass. In early afternoon trading, Digital [Dec] was up 1 3/8 to 34 1/2 on volume of 5 million shares and Intel [Intc] fell 3 5/8 to 155 1/ 2 with 9 million shares changing hands.