Intel Sued Over Patent Infringement By University Of Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) of the University of Winsconsin has filed a complaint in US District Court that charges Intel with patent infringement for technology used in Intel's current line of Core 2 Duo processors:

The technology, patented in 1998, was developed by four researchers at the UW-Madison, including Professor Gurindar Sohi, currently the chair of the university's Computer Science Department. Intel has aggressively marketed the benefits of this invention as a feature of its Core 2 technology. "The technology significantly enhances opportunities for instruction level parallelism in modern processors, thereby increasing their execution speed," states Michael Falk, WARF general counsel.

Professor Sohi apparently made a presentation to Intel regarding the patented technology in 1998, but was brushed off. It is (allegedly) now featured prominently in the Core 2 Duo line.

The lawsuit seeks an injuction against Intel to prevent them from selling the infringing product and seeks damages and legal costs.

If this lawsuit proves to be true, it could be a huge financial boon to the University of Wisconsin, as I hardly think Intel will simply stop selling their Core 2 Duo chips, which make up its main consumer product line.

More likely than not, this will end in a settlement in which Intel will license the technology from UW.

WARF Charges Intel Corporation with Patent Infringement of UW-Madison Invention That Speeds Computer Processing [WARF]
[via: Engadget]