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To: Sully- who wrote (3786)	9/26/2000 4:16:00 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 65232

Tuesday September 26 1:25 PM ET Broadcom Asks Court to Halt Intel Chip Sales By Timna Tanners LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - High-speed communications chip maker Broadcom Corp. (NasdaqNM:BRCM - news) asked a California Superior court for a preliminary injunction late on Monday to stop rival Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) from selling products Broadcom claims are the result of stolen trade secrets. In the latest round of legal battles between Broadcom and Intel, the world's No. 1 chip maker, Broadcom seeks to halt sales of key chips, 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,'' company spokesman Bill Blanning said. Irvine, Calif.-based Broadcom's suit, which names Intel and subsidiary semiconductor supplier Level One Communications, claims Intel obtained confidential Broadcom-developed communications chips from a third party and used them to accelerate development of its own chips. ``Our position is that the motion has no merit and we plan to defend ourselves in court,'' Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said on Tuesday. Intel shares fell $1-1/8 to $44-1/4 in Tuesday trade, while Broadcom rose $3-5/8 to $255-7/8, both on the Nasdaq. 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 (PHY) chips, both key components for connecting to the speediest available network connections over copper wires. ``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,'' Broadcom's suit reads. It also asks the court to appoint a ``special master,'' an intermediary who would monitor Intel to ensure its compliance. Broadcom's suit alleges ``smoking-gun e-mails'' and testimony from Intel employees that portray 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, claiming the smaller competitor 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 counter claim filed against a March Intel suit, in which Intel sought to block Broadcom from hiring three former Intel managers. A court-ordered preliminary injunction in June required that an independent expert oversee Broadcom and ensure it does not garner trade secrets from the former Intel employees. Earlier in the day the Federal Trade Commission said it had ended a separate three-year antitrust investigation into the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, and decided not to take action against Intel. These legal battles come amid stiff competition between the two chipmakers. Both have new MAC chips on the market, 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. Although they are now fierce rivals, Intel was an original investor in Broadcom. dailynews.yahoo.com Ö¿Ö