Intergraph picks up $225 million in Intel patent dispute

INTERGRAPH has finally settled its patent legal action against Intel over its Clipper patents.

And in the process Dell has been let off the hook, although Intergraph is still suing HP and Gateway.

The firm said that under the agreement, Intel will pay Intergraph $125 million on April 5th, another and another $25 million on July 5th, October 5th, January 5th 2005 and April 5th 2005.

That will amount to a tidy sum of $203 million, Intergraph said.

As part of the settlement, Integraph will grant a licence to Dell to use some of its technologies, and drop it from a case it's pursuing which also includes HP and Gateway. That trial is set to start on August 2nd next.

What's Dell got to do with the Intel case? According to Intergraph, Dell filed a counterclaim against Intel last year.

Dell, said Intel in a separate statement, has a "unique indemnity agreement" and claims Intel is obligated under that to indemnify. Intel said it disagrees with Dell's interpretation of its agreement, but will settle that part of the dispute with the PC company separately.

This is certainly news to us. It's the first we've heard of this special indemnity agreement. We'd like to know more. Wouldn't Intel's other customers like to know more too?.

Intel will also receive a licence to use Intergraph's PIC technology. The settlement also includes an agreement by Intergraph not to sue Intel customers for products that include the combo of an INTC CPU, an INTC chipset, and an Intel motherboard. µ

See Also
Intel infringed Intergraph patents in Itanic designs
Intergraph may sue AMD over Clipper patents
Intergraph sues Texas Instruments for patent infringement
Intel, Intelgraph appeal decision hangs on "misunderstanding"
Intergraph now goes after Dell, HP and Gateway
Intel pays Intergraph $300 million to shut up
Intel, Intergraph headed for Patent Place again
Intel's request for new Intergraph trial rejected
Microunity sues Dell, Intel over hyperthreading, multimedia instructions