Intel sued for Pentium patent infringement

...and this is the third Intel-related story for today :rolleyes: -configure

Another punch was thrown in the intellectual property scrap between Intel and Patriot Scientific yesterday when Patriot said it has countersued the chip giant in response to Intel's own legal action, filed earlier this month.

The countersuit escalated tensions by alleging that Intel's Pentium family of processors violate a key Patriot patent.

Intel's lawsuit came a month after Patriot sued five of its customers. Patriot, which develops 32-bit Risc chips, filed complaints against Matsushita, Sony, Fujitsu, Toshiba and NEC in January claiming products from all five violate US patent 5,809,336, which it holds.

Patent 5,809,336, entitled 'High performance microprocessor having variable speed system clock', covers "the means used by the microprocessor industry to increase the internal operating speed of modern microprocessors", the company said.

The patent was filed in June 1995 and granted on 15 September 1998. For the five manufacturers' alleged infringement, Patriot wants damages "in excess of several hundred million dollars".

View: Complete article at The Register