TAIPEI, Taiwan--Taiwan's Via Technologies Inc. on Sunday (Dec. 22) announced it has gained a favorable ruling against Intel Corp. in England over a bitter PC chip-set patent suit.
In the case, the English Court of Appeal overturned a ruling in favor of Via over Intel, thereby bringing the two chip set rivals to court. As part of the ruling, Intel was apparently ordered to pay Via's legal costs, according to the Taipei-based company.
Last year, Intel filed the original suit against Via, claiming that Via infringed upon Intel's Pentium 4-based chip set patents. The suit claims that Via's Pentium 4-based chip set infringed upon five of Intel's patents (see Sept. 7, 2001 story ).
In response, Via quickly filed a counter suit against Intel in the United States and Taiwan, claiming that Intel's Pentium 4 microprocessors and 845 chip set lines infringe upon Via's patents (see Sept. 10, 2001 story ).
Intel and Via have traded several legal jabs over the year. In October of 2002, Intel gained the upper hand, when a German court entered a judgment that barred the import of Via's Pentium 4 chip sets into that country (see Oct. 31, 2002 story ).
Now, it appears that Via has won the latest round. In April of this year, Intel applied to the English High Court for summary dismissal of Via's claims and was successful. Via subsequently appealed that decision to the Court of Appeal.
Today, the Court of Appeal in England has upheld Via's appeal in its entirety, overturning "almost all" of Justice Lawrence Collins' decision at first instance, according to Via.
"If what Via alleges is made out then the dominance of Intel in the world-wide market in the important and developing technology for PCs is buttressed by its enormous portfolio of patents and restrictive licensing policy," according to the Court of Appeal in its ruling.
"This may be true of others but in the case of this technology the commercial and technical requirement for compatibility of hardware and software confers on the industry leader an even more impregnable position," according to the ruling.
The Court of Appeal therefore concluded that the allegations of anticompetitive conduct against Intel should proceed to trial. Under the terms of the order agreed following the judgment, Intel will pay the entirety of Via's legal costs for both the High Court and Court of Appeal hearings.
"We are pleased with the verdict," said Richard Brown, director of marketing of Via, in a statement. "We will be asking for an order for the trial of the competition law issues to be heard as soon as possible."
