Intersil hits back at Agere

Lots at stake...

Intersil has hit back at allegations it abused patents held by Agere Systems - by bringing a lawsuit of its own against its rival. Intersil yesterday filed patent infringement counterclaims in US District Court in Delaware, the same court where it found in itself on the back foot on 17 October. The counterclaim contends Agere's wireless LAN products infringe upon Intersil semiconductor technology patents. The patents relate to the manufacturing and selling of integrated circuit boards for markets including WLAN, disk drives and telecommunications, the company said in a statement. Wireless LANs based on the 802.11b and 802.11a standards are becoming increasingly popular and chipsets produced by companies such as Agere and Intersil are at the heart of this networking technology.