Nintendo Co's US unit settled a lawsuit that accused Winbond Electronics Corp of making counterfeit computer chips that infringed patents owned by the world's second-largest maker of home video games, Nintendo officials said.
Nintendo of America Inc agreed to drop the suit, filed in federal court in Seattle in 1997, in return for an undisclosed sum, company officials said. Nintendo and Winbond also signed a screening agreement to avoid further patent disputes over the chips, they said.
Nintendo's settlement with Taiwan-based Winbond, a leading computer chipmaker, is another victory for the game maker, which has a track record of fiercely defending its patents. In June, General Electric Co lost a bid to revive a patent suit against Nintendo over three of the Kyoto, Japan-based company's hottest video games.
Under the agreement, Winbond would allow Nintendo officials to screen its chips to make sure they don't infringe the game maker's patented inventions, said Richard C. Flamm, an official of Nintendo's Redmond, Washington-based US unit.
Taiwan-based Winbond said payments made in the settlement were intended to help cover Nintendo's legal costs and were "minimal," said company spokesman Mike Liu.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
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