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Intel-Transmeta Processor Patent War Heats Up

Intel filed a lawsuit against Transmeta, last week, continuing a patent infringement legal battle between the two companies, which began October, when Transmeta sued Intel, claiming the company violated 10 of its patents. Transmeta claimed in it lawsuit that Intel`s Pentium and Core PC processors use technologies developed and patented by Transmeta. These technologies include basic processor functions like scheduling and addressing instructions on the chip.

Intel replied to this lawsuit on Tuesday by filling a lawsuit against Transmeta claiming that the company violated 7 of its patents, including different processor functions, ranging from power usage to packed data. Intel`s lawyers wrote in their counterclaim against Transmeta that the company`s patents were illegitimate since the company officials "withheld, concealed and/or mischaracterized" information regarding other patents and technologies in their patent applications. Transmeta has yet to comment on the countersuit, saying it requires more time to study the lawsuit further, a company spokesman said.

Transmeta, founded in 1995 by Bob Cmelik, Dave Ditzel, Colin Hunter, Ed Kelly, Doug Laird, Malcolm Wing, and Grzegorz Zynerlo as a US-based corporation that designed VLIW code morphing microprocessors develops computing technologies with a focus on reducing power consumption in electronic devices. To date, the company has developed two x86 compatible CPU architectures: the Crusoe and Efficeon processors. These CPUs have appeared in ultra-portable Laptops, Blade servers, Tablet PCs, and a silent desktop, where low power consumption and heat dissipation are of primary importance, but still its processors did not gain a large market share. During the company`s first nine years, it had posted $650 million in losses.