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Transmeta Sues Intel for Patent Infringement

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the easy-advertising dept.

Cr0w T. Trollbot writes "Today Transmeta filed suit against Intel for patent infringement. From the article: 'The suit [...] alleges that Intel infringed upon ten of Transmeta's patents. The patents cover computer architecture and power efficiency technologies.' Transmeta offered a low-power x86 processor until last year which used Transmeta's vaunted 'code morphing' software."

18 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Go figure by nurb432 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When the chips are down, ( no pun intended ) and your business model is going up in a fireball.. sue someone!

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  2. They still exist? by WilliamSChips · · Score: 3, Funny

    I thought that they filed bankruptcy or something.

    --
    Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
  3. Sigh... by pete6677 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is anyone else getting a little sick of these patent infringment stories? Its now common knowledge that you can't build anything in the United States without some IP leech suing you, so is this really even a big deal anymore? We all know the eventual result of this: either more products will be invented in other countries or the only things that will be made in the U.S. anymore will be by companies that have a large legal budget, which I'm sure Intel does. Stories like this will become small insignificant news.

  4. I used to think they were cool... by posterlogo · · Score: 5, Interesting
    ...but now, they just seem like patent trolls.


    FTA: "The complaint charges that Intel has infringed and is infringing Transmeta's patents by making and selling a variety of microprocessor products, including at least Intel's Pentium III, Pentium 4, Pentium M, Core and Core 2 product lines."

    They sure are going back a long ways...

    FTA: "Last year, Transmeta laid off 67 employees in a restructuring plan aimed to focus more heavily on IP and the phase out its less profitable processors."

    So they went out of the business of actually making anything (presumably because their products were not competitive in the market place), so NOW they turn to their IP to make any money. I really don't know if they've got a valid case or not, but they certainly seem to be trolling.

    1. Re:I used to think they were cool... by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 4, Informative

      Trademarks fade if you do not agressively pursue violators (like how you search google for something, not "google for something").

      Patents last the term and do not fade in that way. They are full effect for 20 years.

      Copyrights fade 70+ years after you die (and getting longer...).

      --
    2. Re:I used to think they were cool... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Focussing on IP is not necessarily a bad thing for a semiconductor company. ARM did it in the '90s. Building fabs is expensive. There is a huge market for cores that can be modified slightly and then fab'd as ASICs. A lot of mobile 'phones have an ARM9 core, for example. This is a design licensed from ARM, modified by someone else (e.g. TI, who add DSPs and some other things to the die) and then fab'd. It's cheaper to buy a general-purpose core from ARM than to design your own, especially since you can then guarantee it is ARM-compatible (and hence has compilers available for it).

      I don't know how long this business model will survive things like OpenCores - it's even cheaper to download the HDL for a chip for free than buy it - but they may well be successful for a while.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  5. now just another sleezy IP company eh by hurfy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "including at least Intel's Pentium III, Pentium 4, Pentium M, Core and Core 2 product lines."

    So, when was Pentium 3?

    They waited until they were no longer in the market to sue so they cant be counter sued as effectively. Surely they must have done something they could be sued for, go get them anyway. This just smells funny. If your IP is so great why couldn't they make salable product out of it?

    I think these IP lawsuits work like games...the one crying cheater loudest is probably the guilty one ;)

    1. Re:now just another sleezy IP company eh by TheSpoom · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is why business logic patents either shouldn't last nearly as long, especially technological patents, or (preferably) shouldn't exist at all. I don't remember Transmeta doing anything to advance the useful arts and sciences using these technologies, yet Intel has done so and made quite a bit of money in the meantime.

      Competition drives technology forward.
      Patents effectively outlaw competition.
      Therefore, patents kill the need for the company holding the patent to advance their own technology any further.

      The only reason these sorts of patents still exist are because some very powerful corporations can effectively stunt the market using them; by default nobody can compete on the same playing field since to do so they would have to have licenses to use the technologies in question, and companies like Intel and IBM own literally thousands of patents on just about everything. So they license their patent libraries among themselves, forming a sort of corporate clique in which outsiders are persona non grata.

      Maybe once enough of these patents bite companies like Intel in the ass, things will change. Unfortunately I think it'll take a while for that to happen.

      --
      It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
      - E. Debs
    2. Re:now just another sleezy IP company eh by MikeBabcock · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Then surely you don't remember very well. Before AMD and now Intel started pushing low-power CPUs, Transmeta was there with the concept. Transmeta was at the forefront of Intel-compatible low-power CPUs with dynamic power profiles dependant on usage.

      It was well vaunted at their launch that a laptop running a DVD wouldn't last as long on battery as if it were doing word processing.

      The fact they didn't catch on isn't relevant to what they contributed to the industry itself.

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
  6. the davinci code by User+956 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Transmeta offered a low-power x86 processor until last year which used Transmeta's vaunted 'code morphing' software.

    Quick, someone use this "code morphing" software on the mona lisa so we can find the Holy Grail!

    --
    The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
  7. I wonder ... by guysmilee · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As a developer when i see a company do this ... I seriously quetion if I can refuse to participate in my companies work in pursuing patents for my work ... b/c if the company was to ever collapse (not being a business person) I could be crippling my own future at other employers ... imagine switching jobs and being your new company being sued by a "defunct" company you used to work for ...

  8. Re:Go figure - too clever by From+A+Far+Away+Land · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's too clever a saying for me to have been the first to have thought of it, so I probably just heard it before.

    Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.

    --
    Oh You POS
  9. Intel = Deep Pockets by StateOfTheUnion · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Guess Transmeta is going after the biggest guy with the deepest pockets . . . seems a little hard to believe that AMD wouldn't be doing something similar to what Intel is doing (that Transmeta claims in infringing).

    If Transmeta scores a win against Intel, then maybe that could lead to licensing agreements with others that may be afraid that they would also lose in litigation. In the meantime, this is one time where AMD may be thankful that they don't have the largest marketshare and the deepest pockets in the CPU industry.

  10. You said it by BeeBeard · · Score: 3, Insightful

    From the article:

    "Last year, Transmeta laid off 67 employees in a restructuring plan aimed to focus more heavily on IP and the phase out its less profitable processors." (emphasis added)

    Patent portfolio operation?!? Whatever do you mean?? ;-)

    1. Re:You said it by cerelib · · Score: 5, Informative

      Transmeta wanted to do something new. They did serious research to develop a different kind of product, but they were never able to find enough business. The market was not ready for what they were selling and they did not have the power to make it into something amazing. What they are left with is patents on research that they funded. Just because they do not have the ability to compete in the market right now does not mean they should have to give up all of their work. If you invented something, but didn't have the capital or even motivation to sell it, would you be okay with everyone else being able to make money from your invention? I have not investigated Transmeta's claims, but low-power chips were their whole business and that seems to be what Intel is killing for now. This leads me to believe that they might actually have a case. On the surface, this seems like a completely appropriate use of the patent system.

  11. Re:Nothing to see here, move along... by Shadow99_1 · · Score: 4, Informative

    They didn't go after (& won't go after) AMD because they've had a very long standing cross-patent agreement with them going back to the original transmeta product launch...

    Doesn't make much sense to go after a business partner...

    --
    we are all invisible unless we choose otherwise
  12. Re:Go figure - too clever by acvh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nope.

    Woody Allen.

    Those who can, do.
    Those who can't, teach.
    Those who can't teach, teach gym.

  13. Re:Go figure - too clever by ShakaUVM · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, George Bernard Shaw.

    And it's a parody of Aristotle: "Those that know, do. Those that understand, teach."