Finally, a post about LSI...
LSI is sued by Philips for patent infringement.
Wednesday October 17, 1:01 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: U.S. Philips Corporation
U.S. Philips Corporation Files Additional Suits for I2C Bus Patent
Infringement
Litigation Asserts Infringement by IC's and Computer Motherboards for the
Philips-Patented Inter-Integrated Circuit Bus (I2C Bus)
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 17, 2001-- U.S. Philips Corporation, the
subsidiary of Royal Philips Electronics of the
Netherlands that has responsibility for licensing intellectual property,
announced today that it has filed suits in the U.S. District Court in New
York against eight companies for infringing and inducing others to infringe
Philips' U.S. Patent Number 4,689,740.
This patent is directed to devices and methods used with the
Inter-Integrated Circuit Bus (``I2C Bus''). The companies are Atmel
Corporation, San Jose, CA; LSI Logic Corporation, Milpitas, CA; Maxim
Integrated Products, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA; Semtech
Corporation, Newbury Park, CA; Abit Computer Corporation, Taipei Hsien,
Taiwan; Asutek Computer, Inc., Taipei, Taiwan and
Micro-star International Co., Ltd., Taipei Hsien, Taiwan. The suits also
name Dallas Semiconductor Corporation, Dallas, TX, a
subsidiary of Maxim Integrated Products, Inc., and various American
subsidiaries of the Taiwanese companies. Damages were not
specified. Trial dates have not been set.
The suits allege that the five U.S. company defendants manufacture
infringing integrated circuits. The three Taiwanese companies are accused of
importing infringing integrated circuits, motherboards and/or computers into
the United States.
I2C Bus Facilitates Interconnectivity
The I2C Bus is a serial data path that is widely used to interconnect
semiconductor chips on circuit boards in personal computers, television
sets, audio components, telephones and other consumer electronics equipment.
Philips Electronics, together with more than fifty other companies licensed
to use the patent, manufacture and sell circuits with interfaces that enable
the transmission and receipt of digital signals on an I2C Bus. The I2C Bus
was originally developed in the 1970's to simplify and reduce the cost of
interconnections within Philips products and its use has become an informal
standard in the consumer electronics industry. The patented methods and
device functions have also been incorporated into later standards.
Philips has a long-standing program to license its I2C patents to
semiconductor manufacturers on fair and reasonable terms, but the defendant
semiconductor manufacturers have refused to participate in the program.
Initial Infringement Suits Filed Last Year
On October 2, 2000, Philips sued a first group of six semiconductor
manufacturers for infringing the I2C patent. Two of the original defendants,
Cirrus Logic, Inc. and Linear Technology Corp., have since settled and
concluded license agreements with Philips. The October 2000 litigation
continues with the four remaining defendants: Analog Devices, Inc., Norwood,
MA; Cypress Semiconductor Corp., San Jose, CA; Fairchild Semiconductor
Corp,. South Portland, ME; and Standard Microsystems Corp., Hauppauge, NY. A
trial is expected in mid-2002.
About Philips
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is one of the world's biggest
electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of $34.9 billion (EUR
37.9 billion) in 2000. It is a global leader in color television sets,
lighting, electric shavers, color picture tubes for televisions and
monitors, and one-chip TV products. Its 212,390 employees in more than 60
countries are active in the areas of lighting, consumer electronics,
domestic appliances, components, semiconductors, and medical systems.
Philips is quoted on the NYSE (symbol: PHG), London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam
and other stock exchanges. News from Philips is located at
www.news.philips.com |
