Five years ago: Intel heads for courtroom double date

First published 15 May, 1997.

Yesterday, Intel issued a statement relating to the Digital lawsuit, stating: "[Intel] does not believe any of its products infringe on patents asserted by [Digital] ... [Digital] has stated that technology is vital to its business. Technology is vital to Intel's business as well. Over the past three years, Intel has been issued nearly 1,000 patents for semiconductor, microprocessor and other technologies. In conjunction with this effort, during that same period, Intel has spent over $4 billion for research and development."

Today, an Intel UK spokeswoman responded to Cyrix's lawsuit, also relating to patent infringements in recent processors: "We've concluded a preliminary examination of the patents and have concluded that Intel products don't infringe on these patents," she said. "The next step, I guess, is we'll be looking at a hearing."

The Cyrix suit was issued on Wednesday and refers to patents that it was granted earlier that day. The patents cover "externally controllable power management" and register renaming.