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To: Dan3 who wrote (168793)	7/28/2002 1:41:16 PM
From: Monica Detwiler	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 186894

Dan3 - I think AMD will have to pay $600 million plus royalties to settle the lawsuit for AMD ripping off Saifun of their intellectual property for MirroBit technology. Imagine that - AMD had to resort to piracy just to try and keep up with Intel in flash technology. And AMD will be paying royalties to Saifun, no doubt, eliminating much of the profits (if any) from their new MirroBit technology. By the way, I think Hector Ruiz is doing a fine job at AMD and he could use another $6,000,000 per year raise. AMD, Saifun Settle Flash Memory Lawsuit By Tom Murphy -- 7/25/2002 Electronic News Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Saifun Semiconductors Ltd. have agreed to settle their patent infringement litigation over flash memory technology and have agreed to work together with Fujitsu Ltd. on future flash technology, according to an announcement issued today by Israel-based Saifun. Further details of the settlement are expected next Wednesday, according to the Saifun release. AMD could not be reached for comment. The agreement comes at a crucial time for AMD, which recently posted an operating loss in Q2 and has been hard hit by sagging flash prices. Industry analysts have said there has been evidence recently that flash prices are firming up. Saifun had accused AMD of patent infringement over AMD’s MirrorBit flash memory technology. AMD had been in a competitive disadvantage to Intel’s StrataFlash technology, which offered twice the density per memory cell of more conventional flash memory products. "It’s funny what a lawsuit can do," said Jim Cantore, memory analyst for iSuppli Corp., based in El Segundo, Calif. "In times like these your best bet is to get a cross-licensing agreement because the alternative is to pay your corporate lawyers a bunch of money to fight it out. It appears AMD didn’t want to do that." AMD launched its MirrorBit flash technology earlier this year despite pending litigation from Saifun, which alleged that AMD had unlawfully used its technology to produce the products. It was a few years before the introduction of MirrorBit technology that Saifun worked with AMD on high density flash technology. However, no definitive agreements ever came out of that collaboration. AMD previously said it believed Saifun’s patent infringement claim was without merit.