Via Asks Courts to Freeze P4 Sales

Chip set maker Via Technologies is going for the throat in its escalating legal battle with Intel--the company wants the courts to halt sales of Pentium 4 processors altogether, claiming patent infringement.

Via Technologies and its subsidiary company Centaur Technology filed a lawsuit last week against Intel.

The company filed the suit in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Texas, where Centaur resides. It alleges that Intel's Pentium 4 line of chips infringes upon U.S. Patent Number 6,253,311, jointly held by Via and Centaur.

The suit asks the court to bar Intel from continuing to sell the Pentium 4, and seeks monetary damages. While Via and Centaur actually filed the lawsuit last week, the two companies issued statements Thursday stressing that they hope to see the courts stop P4 sales immediately.

Intel Fired First

Via's lawsuit comes on the heels of Intel's own legal action against the chip set maker on September 7. In a move anticipated for months, Intel filed a patent infringement lawsuit claiming Via's P4X266 and P4M266 chip sets violate five patents associated with Intel's P4.

Via maintains that it has not broken any Intel patents with its products. The current lawsuits are only the latest legal wrangling between Intel and Via. The two have been at odds for years over chip licensing and patent issues.

The first lawsuit began in 1999. Back then, Intel sued Via claiming its Apollo Pro chip set, which featured a then-speedy 133-MHz system bus and support for 133-MHz memory, infringed on Intel's technology patents. The complaint stemmed from a 1998 licensing agreement between Intel and Via that turned sour when Intel accused Via of overstepping the terms of the contract. Intel withdrew Via's license in June 1999 and filed a patent-infringement and breach-of-contract lawsuit against the company. The companies settled the lawsuits last year.

While Via and Intel are certainly not strangers in the courtroom, some suggest the latest round of lawsuits is turning particularly nasty. In fact, in its suit, Via alleges that Intel has bullied vendors into staying away from Via products. Plus, it says, Intel employees have destroyed Via property. According to the filing, Via is seeking to prosecute Intel employees for allegedly taking down its posters and balloons at the Computex 2001 trade show held in Taipei last June.