AMD moves to protect intellectual property

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has announced the appointment of its first vice president of intellectual property, bringing over Motorola veteran Harry Wolin for the office.

Intellectual property is becoming increasingly important in the market for PC components such as processors and memory chips, as emphasised by the ongoing patent battles around dynamic RAM memory and PC chipsets.

Intel recently sued chip company Broadcom for "stealing" Intel intellectual property.

AMD said the new vice president will help manage AMD's patents in flash memory and microprocessors. "Harry's decision to join our organisation is an affirmation of AMD's stature as a world class intellectual property producer," said Thomas M. McCoy, senior vice president, secretary and general counsel of AMD, in a prepared statement.

Wolin, who will be based in Austin, Texas, has been with Motorola for 12 years and was most recently vice president and director of legal affairs for Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector, where he handled Motorola's semiconductor intellectual property.

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