Intel settles chip patent case

The University of Wisconsin-Madison's patenting arm has settled its infringement lawsuit against computer chip maker Intel involving technology used in a popular computer processor.

The case was expected to go to trial yesterday in US District Court in Madison, but both sides notified the court on Friday that they had reached a settlement.

Details were not released and Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said he could not comment because the terms were confidential.

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation sued Santa Clara, California-based Intel in February 2008, alleging that technology used in Intel's Core 2 Duo Processor and others was created by university researchers but used by Intel without a licensing agreement.

The lawsuit claimed the microarchitecture of the Intel Core family of processors infringed on a 1998 patent based on work by four researchers including Gurindar Sohi, a computer science professor.

Intel had supported Sohi's research with about $90,000 (£56,000) in gifts in the 1990s and argued it was entitled to the intellectual property that resulted from the funding.

US District Judge Barbara Crabb rejected Intel's argument in a ruling last month and ordered the case to trial. She said the funding agreements did not specifically give Intel the right to use patents resulting from the work but any infringement by Intel was not wilful because the funding agreements were ambiguous.

A jury was expected to decide whether infringement occurred and, if so, how much damages to award the foundation, which manages the university's patents and funds research at the school.

The lawsuit claimed the Intel Merom processor, which was developed by the company beginning in 2001, was the first to infringe.

Sohi and WARF spokeswoman Janet Kelly declined to comment on the settlement.

The technology in question increased the speed and efficiency of processors, including the Core 2, which was launched in 2007 and delivers as much as 40 per cent better performance while consuming less energy than previous models.

The patent covers the design of processors that can more efficiently execute program instructions out of order.