Monday, March 16th 2009
Intel Notifies AMD of Cross-License Breach
Intel Corporation today disclosed that the company has notified Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) that it believes AMD has breached a 2001 patent cross-license agreement with Intel. Intel believes that Global Foundries is not a subsidiary under terms of the agreement and is therefore not licensed under the 2001 patent cross-license agreement. Intel also said the structure of the deal between AMD and ATIC breaches a confidential portion of that agreement. Intel has asked AMD to make the relevant portion of the agreement public, but so far AMD has declined to do so. AMD's breach could result in the loss of licenses and rights granted to AMD by Intel under the agreement.
"Intellectual property is a cornerstone of Intel's technology leadership and for more than 30 years, the company has believed in the strategic importance of licensing intellectual property in exchange for fair value. However AMD cannot unilaterally extend Intel's licensing rights to a third party without Intel's consent," said Bruce Sewell, senior vice president and general counsel for Intel. We have attempted to address our concerns with AMD without success since October. We are willing to find a resolution but at the same time we have an obligation to our stockholders to protect the billions of dollars we've invested in intellectual property."
Under terms of the license agreement the notification to AMD means the parties will attempt to resolve the dispute through mediation. In response to the notification AMD claimed Intel breached the agreement by notifying AMD of its breach. Intel believes that position is inconsistent with the dispute resolution process outlined in the original agreement.
Source:
Intel
"Intellectual property is a cornerstone of Intel's technology leadership and for more than 30 years, the company has believed in the strategic importance of licensing intellectual property in exchange for fair value. However AMD cannot unilaterally extend Intel's licensing rights to a third party without Intel's consent," said Bruce Sewell, senior vice president and general counsel for Intel. We have attempted to address our concerns with AMD without success since October. We are willing to find a resolution but at the same time we have an obligation to our stockholders to protect the billions of dollars we've invested in intellectual property."
Under terms of the license agreement the notification to AMD means the parties will attempt to resolve the dispute through mediation. In response to the notification AMD claimed Intel breached the agreement by notifying AMD of its breach. Intel believes that position is inconsistent with the dispute resolution process outlined in the original agreement.
69 Comments on Intel Notifies AMD of Cross-License Breach
Oh i get it now Intel sues AMD for breach of contract, and AMD counter sues for breach of breaches.
I guess its a matter of MS unwillingness to undertake such a project probably because they dont see it making them much money and they dont want to piss off Intel and would rather preserve the status quo. And since Apple no longer uses PowerPC CPUs in their Macs software designers have no incentive to make applications supporting PowerPC CPUs. AFAIK, that architecture is relegated to embedded devices as well as IBM workstations so its not a big market.
Intel causing drama as usual...i wish they would go away as in ...gone.
somebody correct me if I am wrong.
And here's the dead giveaway, right in their press release:
Intel also said the structure of the deal between AMD and ATIC breaches a confidential portion of that agreement. Intel has asked AMD to make the relevant portion of the agreement public, but so far AMD has declined to do so.
You bet they "declined to do so"! If AMD had really breached a confidential part of the agreement, then if:
- the agreement is confidential, then why would they suddenly want the whole world to know about it? They would want to discuss this confidentially, in private, with lawyers, no??
- you accuse someone of doing wrong, you specify what it is to them and tell them to stop. Intel's statement is like me having my friend fix my car and then I turn round to him and say "Hey, you broke it! Now admit to the part you broke!" Doesn't fly, does it?
There's no way that AMD would have had this multi-billion dollar restructure if they were breaching any agreements with Intel.
No, Intel will now get some serious competition for once in its life and it's running scared.
Incidentally, this is the same shit that Microsoft pulled with Linux. The Linux community lifted a finger and said "so sue me!!" It's all gone a bit quiet, hasn't it?
Since the Core 2 era Intel has been a bunch of power hungry jack asses . They were unable to do this when they had there P4 chip because AMD was kicking there ass with the FX . Now that there is a chance for them to do it again Intel will pull out all the stops to prevent it.
It was a crying shame how Acorn had such a blinkered attitude back then - had they licenced out their PC and CPU designs, the world would now have been Acorn compatible and our computers would have been much more efficient and powerful.
Here's some info on it for those too young to remember.
so intel is also screwed the other way