Intel said Monday it had settled a patent lawsuit with a research foundation that accused it of using a patented technology in its processor designs without permission.
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation alleged that Intel used in many of its chips an invention of a circuit that executes instructions faster to boost performance. WARF is a private organization that patents and licenses inventions for the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
“I can confirm that we’ve reached an agreement to settle. However, terms of the agreement are confidential so I won’t comment beyond that,” Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said via e-mail. WARF officials were not immediately available for comment.
The patent infringement lawsuit was filed in February last year in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. Based on the invention, a patent titled “Table based data speculation circuit for parallel processing computer” was awarded to four University of Wisconsin researchers in 1998.
The foundation said it made multiple attempts to license the technology to Intel and that the chipmaker declined to enter an agreement. It then filed the patent suit, seeking an undisclosed sum in compensation and an order preventing the chip maker from selling certain processors, including its Core 2 Duo chips.
The amount of the settlement was not disclosed.