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On Monday, after finding itself on the receiving end of legal action on Friday, Taiwan's Via Technologies blasted back at rival Intel. Via filed lawsuits of its own alleging patent infringement, fair trade law violations, and destruction of company property.

Lawsuits alleging patent infringement by Intel in its Pentium 4 processor and companion 845 chip set were filed in Taipei on Monday and will be filed later in the day on Monday in the United States, says Richard Brown, a spokesperson for Via.

"Both of them contain intellectual property that is owned by Via and therefore they are infringing our patent and we are seeking legal redress for that infringement," he says.

Brown declines to detail the technology or patents that his company alleges are being infringed upon by Intel.

"We can't provide full details right now," he says. "On the chip set and CPU there are certain things that we have patented and when we file to the court officially that information will be revealed."

Escalating Battle

The lawsuits represent a stepping-up of what had been until Friday a battle of words between the two companies.

Current chip sets from Intel for its Pentium 4 processor support only Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory, however the company has said it will launch a new chip set, the 845, later this year, that will support the much cheaper Double Data Rate Synchronous DRAM.

Via has already released its own chip set, the P4X266, that supports DDR. However, the company has not obtained a license from Intel for the 400-MHz bus used with the Pentium 4. The company maintains Intel does not have a patent that covers the bus.

The lawsuits filed on Friday by Intel allege that Via's P4X266 and upcoming P4M266 chip sets violate five patents associated with Intel's Pentium 4 processor.

Brown dismisses those lawsuits. "We don't, as far as we know, infringe on any patents and now we will vigorously defend the claims in court that Intel is making against us."

Via also says it has separately begun litigation against Intel alleging violations of Taiwan's fair trade law and the willful destruction of Via property by Intel representatives and employees.

Fair Trade?

Threats--allegedly made by Intel to computer makers and aimed at stopping them using Via's chip set--are violations of the fair trade law, says Brown.

"[Intel has violated the fair trade law] through the threats it has made to its customers and our customers, telling them if they use the Via P4X266 chip set Intel will take certain actions against them. They have threatened legal action against the customers and also other sanctions, such as lack of availability of product. We have clear evidence that is being done," he says.

Perhaps demonstrating the level to which the battle between these companies has sunk, Via is also seeking to prosecute Intel employees for allegedly taking down its posters and balloons at the Computex 2001 trade show that was held in Taipei in June.

"It might sound a little bit petty but it is clear vandalism of our property. If you had a bunch of kids who are pulling down posters or signs from outside shops in shopping malls then that is regarded as vandalism," he says. "This is criminal action and therefore we are filing criminal suits against the individuals that were involved or the ones that gave those instructions to destroy Via property."

Intel could not immediately be reached for comment.

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