Transmeta sues Intel

Transmeta has filed a lawsuit against Intel, threatening to prevent shipments of its Core and Core 2 processors, both of which currently power Apple's various Mac systems. Apple is expected to roll out refreshed versions of its portable notebooks by early 2007 featuring Intel's faster Core 2 Duo processors, gradually phasing out the previous generation of Core chips from its Mac systems. The suit -- which was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware on Wednesday, October 11th -- alleges that Intel is violating 10 separate patents covering processor design as well as power efficiency techniques, according to IDG News. Transmeta is demanding damages, royalty payments, and an injunction to prevent Intel from selling its "infringing" products which include the Pentium III, Pentium 4, Pentium M, Core, and Core 2 central processing units. [headline updated]

Transmeta resorted to the suit after efforts to agree on licensing terms with Intel failed, according to Transmeta president and CEO Arthur Swift. "Friendly win-win discussions between the two parties had broken down and we thought is was appropriate now to turn to the courts." The "off and on" discussions had been underway "for years," according to Swift.

Nine of Transmeta's 10 patents cover basic processor functionality such as addressing instructions on the chip and scheduling, while the tenth relates to Transmeta's LongRun technology used to adjust the voltage of the processor as workload varies, according to the report.

by MacNN Staff