Print

Mail

wiki links

VIA fends off Intel appeal on patents

The US Court of Appeals has dismissed an Intel Corp appeal against a ruling in favor of VIA Technologies Inc (威盛電子) over patent infringements, VIA said yesterday.

A spokesman for VIA, a leading developer of core logic chipsets, microprocessors and multimedia and communications chips, said that on Nov. 20, 2001, the US District Court granted summary judgment in VIA's favor with respect to one of the patents regarding VIA's K7-compatible chipsets.

It decided that VIA was licensed to the patent under the Accelerated Graphics Port 2.0 license agreement that Intel had made available to the industry.

On Dec. 4, 2001, the court again granted summary judgment in VIA's favor with respect to another patent. In this case it decided that Intel had not proven that VIA infringed the patent. As Intel dismissed its claims to that patent a week later, the litigation relating to VIA's K7-compatible chipsets was terminated at the district court.

The spokesman said that Intel filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals immediately afterward. While litigation was pending, VIA in September 2001 began filing a series of lawsuits against Intel in US and Taiwan courts for infringement of VIA patents by Intel processors and chipsets.

Saying that he appreciated the recent decision by the US Court of Appeals, the spokesman pointed out that the court ruling indicated that fair competition remained the rule of the market despite attempts by some companies to obstruct fair trade via litigation.

He said that while the complicated legal issues between the two parties have not yet been fully settled, VIA remains optimistic about the outcome.
This story has been viewed 1800 times.