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IT Transmeta Sues Intel
Tuan Nguyen (Blog) - October 13, 2006 1:01 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 38 comment(s) - last by InlineFive.. on Oct 19 at 7:58 PM
Patent infringement dating back to the Pentium 3

This week Transmeta Corporation announced that it filed a lawsuit against Intel claiming that Intel infringed on several patents that belong to Transmeta. Interestingly, Transmeta is claiming that the patents Intel had infringed on dates back all the way to the Pentium 3 processor and carries forward to even Core 2 products. Why Transmeta did not bring up the subject several years ago is unknown.

Transmeta is requesting that an injunction be placed on Intel, preventing it from selling products that infringed on Transmeta patents, and is also requesting that Intel have to pay for damages including legal fees. Transmeta's executive vice president John O'Hara Horsley said "Transmeta has developed a strong portfolio of intellectual property rights to capture and protect our proud legacy of developing advanced computing and microprocessor technologies."

Despite bringing Intel into court, both Transmeta and Intel had cooperated with each other on many occassions. Both companies have used each other's technologies in products. Transmeta said however that it felt it was not fairly compensated for its technology and thus must turn to the courts for a solution. "We believe that the action we have taken today is an appropriate step to return value to our stockholders from our investments over the past decade," said Arthur L. Swift, CEO of Transmeta.

Intel so far has not responded.

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?
By ixelion on 10/13/2006 1:10:16 PM , Rating: 1
What technology has Intel stolen? Don't Transmeta CPUs offload some of the CPU functions to the OS? Is that what Intel stole?

-Clueless




RE: ?
By Phynaz on 10/13/2006 1:39:10 PM , Rating: 4
It involves power and registers.

One patent has to do with slowing down the chip when when not under load.

Another one involves a register that can contain both integer and floating values - such as how MMX being integer actually uses the floting point registers.

I think there is a toal of nine patents.



RE: ?
By FITCamaro on 10/13/2006 1:42:55 PM , Rating: 1
You'd think they'd have sued before now considering the Pentium 3 hasn't been sold in anything other than the Xbox for about 4-5 years.


RE: ?
By RandomFool on 10/13/2006 2:01:25 PM , Rating: 2
It's not saying it was just the P3 but everything since the P3.

From the article: "The complaint charges that Intel has infringed and is infringing Transmeta's patents by making and selling a variety of microprocessor products including at least Intel's Pentium III, Pentium 4, Pentium M, Core and Core 2 product lines."


RE: ?
By kamel5547 on 10/13/2006 3:17:33 PM , Rating: 4
Yes if they were aware, however since several of the patents involve decreasing power consumption it may not have been apparent until recently that Intel was infringing on the patents (after all who would have associated lowered power consumption and the P4?). I'm sure that once the Pentium M came out it probably raised the question, but I would expect it would take some time to: 1) disect the processor enough to be sure the patents were involved. 2) attempt to come to an agreement on back payments since they are already partners. Suing in such a case is the last resort as Intel could drag this out for years if they chose.


RE: ?
By Phynaz on 10/13/2006 3:52:52 PM , Rating: 4
That's nice, I get modded down for a factual answer to a question.


RE: ?
By shamgar03 on 10/13/2006 4:13:09 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
...modded down...

+1 for good facts =)


RE: ?
By hannons on 10/13/2006 2:01:38 PM , Rating: 2
You would think they would have brokered the deal before sharing the technology. It seems idiotic in today's business world to just say "Hey, let's share technology. We'll work out the payment/trade later."
It's a testament to poor leadership on Transmeta's part.


RE: ?
By kamel5547 on 10/13/2006 3:13:36 PM , Rating: 2
Well I think the article refers to other patent sharing agreements and not to this specific technology. Just because Transmeta agreed to let Intel use other technologies would not have given them the right to use the particular technologies in question.


RE: ?
By JonnyBlaze on 10/13/06, Rating: 0
RE: ?
By Phynaz on 10/13/06, Rating: 0
Welcome to the US
By phatboye on 10/13/2006 1:07:01 PM , Rating: 3
Can't beat 'em? Sue 'em!

That's our motto.




RE: Welcome to the US
By DigitalFreak on 10/13/2006 3:03:31 PM , Rating: 1
Because I agree with phatboye...

quote:
Can't beat 'em? Sue 'em!

That's our motto.



Be interesting to see how this shakes out
By rcc on 10/13/2006 1:22:01 PM , Rating: 2
Because I'm reading that Transmeta has decided that they need more money than was agreed to in past dealings, and is going to the courts to try to get it.





By Janooo on 10/13/2006 1:58:39 PM , Rating: 2
... or there is a disagreement on some parts and they want an arbiter to decide how much they are supposed to get paid.


Problem with american business
By blwest on 10/13/2006 1:06:34 PM , Rating: 3
It's all about the shareholders. What ever happened to ethics? American business ethics= "It's ok as long as the shareholder benefits"




Go Injunction!
By Some1ne on 10/13/2006 9:11:08 PM , Rating: 3
I hope they immediately ban the sale of any additional Core 2 based processors forevermore. Then the two that I have will increase exponentially in value, and I can sell the slower one on e-bay, and keep the faster one for myself.




???
By Spivonious on 10/13/2006 1:25:27 PM , Rating: 2
When was the last time you could get a system that had a Crusoe processor in it? Transmeta's just after some publicity.

I suspect that Intel uses some of Transmeta's power-saving ideas in their chips (probably starting with the P3-M).




WHY?
By phymon on 10/13/06, Rating: 0
RE: WHY?
By TacticalTrading on 10/16/2006 9:17:55 AM , Rating: 2
They had been in negotiations for a very long time,
Finally decided that Intel was taking a...Maybe they will just go away...approach with no intention of ever compensating them.



Lol... lame.
By vhx on 10/13/2006 3:00:57 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Why Transmeta did not bring up the subject several years ago is unknown.

quote:
and is also requesting that Intel have to pay for damages including legal fees.


Most likely 'damages' will be equal to how many processors of those type they have sold. In other words, they waited for years so as processors sold more, they had the opportunity to sue for more. Obvious much?




Intel to buy Transmeta
By OddTSi on 10/13/2006 3:33:32 PM , Rating: 2
Seeing as how Transmeta is only worth a couple hundred million dollars, I'm sure if it appears that the case is about to gain any traction Intel will probably just buy Transmeta. But then maybe that's what Transmeta wants.




If they have a reason...
By ajfink on 10/13/2006 4:05:55 PM , Rating: 2
Like someone said, if they have a reason, go ahead. If they were to win, the amount of money they would make would keep them afloat for a few more years.

Transmeta doesn't necessarily make bad CPUs, there just isn't as big of a market for them. They specialize in tiny and extremely low power usage (oddly enough, AMD and Intel are heading that way now, but with significantly greater performance).




Injunction?
By shamgar03 on 10/13/2006 4:15:52 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah...thats not going to happen. If they forced Intel to stop selling everything that infringes on these patents and that includes everything since the P3 Intel would be pretty much out of business. I am sure they will just pay a healthy bri...settlement




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