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

To: milo_morai who wrote (139057)	9/9/2001 11:36:19 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1578705

Intel Sues Via Tech for Patent Infringement SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Reuters) - Intel Corp. (INTC.O), the world's No. 1 semiconductor maker, on Friday sued Via Technologies Inc. for patent infringement on a Via chipset for Intel's Pentium 4 microprocessor, the latest chapter in a contentious legal history between the two companies. In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware, Intel alleges that Taiwan-based Via Technologies (2388.TW), the No. 2 chipset manufacturer, violates five Intel patents with its P4X266 chipset. A chipset incorporates the microprocessor, the primary computing engine of a personal computer, with other semiconductors and connects it to the rest of the PC. The Via chipset at issue allows PC makers to incorporate double-data rate, or DDR DRAM, a high-speed version of standard computer memory, into personal computers. DDR DRAM is far cheaper than Rambus Inc.'s (RMBS.O) RDRAM memory technology, which is now the only kind that works with the Pentium 4 chip. But Intel will start selling on Monday its 845 chipset, previously code-named Brookdale, that doesn't use RDRAM and is compatible with Intel's Pentium 4. An Intel spokesman said that after the company obtained samples of the Via chipset, it determined that the products infringed their patents and decided to sue. Intel is seeking unspecified damages and wants Via Technologies to pull the chipsets from the market. "We determined that the products did indeed infringe on our patents, and we then decided to file suit," said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy. A Via Technologies spokesperson couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Via Technologies started shipping large numbers of the controversial chipset for the Pentium 4 in mid-August, even though it didn't have a license from Intel. Ted Lee, Via's vice president of sales and marketing, told Reuters in mid-August that the Taipei-based company didn't believe it was infringing on any Intel patents. Via ran into legal troubles with Intel before, when it made a low-cost chipset for Intel's previous generation microprocessor, the Pentium 3, and stole around 20 percent of the world's chipset market share to reach around 20 percent, analysts have said. The Taiwan company was then hit with a patent infringement suit from Intel, which was settled last year. The two firms declined to disclose terms of that settlement. Via has said, though, that its P4X266 chipset is 25 percent cheaper than Intel's new, lower-priced offering, which Intel has said will cut the price of a PC by about $150. Intel, its rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD.N), and the entire PC industry are mired in a significant slump in demand and sales amid slowing economies and indications that consumer confidence may be waning. Intel has already licensed two other Taiwan chipset designers, Silicon Integrated Systems (2363.TW) and Acer Laboratories (5923.TWO) to make Pentium 4 chipsets. 15:56 09-07-01 Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited.