The first trial pitting Intel and Via Technologies, competitors in the PC chipset market, will begin Jan. 22 in the U.S. District Court of Northern California, Intel announced. The companies, which co-operated on previous matters, currently are engaged in a barrage of patent infringement lawsuits filed in different courts on three continents. The trial that kicks off next year, barring a settlement, revolves around the issue of whether one of Via's chipsets--chips that connect a PC's main processor to other components--for Advanced Micro Devices-based computers infringes two Intel patents. The judge in the case last week dismissed a claim in the suit relating to a third Intel patent. The case was filed in June 1999, and many of the claims originally alleged in the case were settled in July 2000.
The trial that kicks off next year, barring a settlement, revolves around the issue of whether one of Via's chipsets--chips that connect a PC's main processor to other components--for Advanced Micro Devices-based computers infringes two Intel patents. The judge in the case last week dismissed a claim in the suit relating to a third Intel patent. The case was filed in June 1999, and many of the claims originally alleged in the case were settled in July 2000.