Hewlett-Packard Co and STMicro-electronics were sued by a technology-licensing firm that accuses the companies of misusing trade secrets for a method of speeding up computer data processing.
In a lawsuit made public Wednesday, VLIW Technology LLC is asking a judge to stop Hewlett-Packard and STMicroelectronics from sharing the "Very Long Instruction Word" programming concept with others and to award damages and legal fees.
The suit, filed in Delaware Chancery Court, says Hewlett-Packard licensed the invention from a VLIW predecessor in 1990, and gave it to STMicroelectronics without permission.
VLIW says Hewlett-Packard was only authorized to use the technology in its own computers, and that "HP and STM knew or reasonably should have known that HP had no right to share the trade secrets." VLIW says in the suit the technology can be used for video processing. Hewlett-Packard, the world's second-largest computer company behind International Business Machines Corp, said Thursday it signed a five-year agreement to provide computers and software for Hughes Electronics Corp's DirecTV satellite-based television services.
Calls for comment on the suits to Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard's public relations office weren't immediately returned.
In New York, Michael Markowitz, US spokesman for Geneva-based STMicroelectronics, said the company had just received the lawsuit, and "we're looking into it." Shares of Hewlett-Packard, which reported US$45.2 billion in fiscal 2001 sales, rose 53 cents to US$18.76 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
US shares of STMicroelectronics, Europe's largest semiconductor maker with US$6.3 billion in fiscal 2001 sales, fell 39 cents to US$22.
Lawyer Kevin M. McGovern, chief executive officer of McGovern Capital LLC, is a part-owner and patent-enforcement coordinator of VLIW Technologies, according to the McGovern Web site.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique