HUNTSVILLE: Intergraph Corp. said on Friday it plans to pursue it's
long-running patent and contract interference suit against chip maker Intel
Corp. after hitting a dead-end on its antitrust claims.
In a statement, the maker of computer design systems said it did not believe
that the antitrust claims filed in a suit begun in 1997 against Intel were
necessary for other claims involving business tort and contract claims to
succeed. Intergraph said it was responding to a ruling by the US Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirming the district court's dismissal of
antitrust claims, an earlier setback for Intergraph.
An Intel spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the Intergraph
statement, which was issued after the close of business. "While we continue
to believe that Intel abused their monopoly position in an effort to coerce a
royalty-free right to use our Clipper technology, we do not consider the
antitrust claims material to our case or our damages," Intergraph CEO James
Taylor said.
Intergraph originally sued Intel for patent infringement, violation of state
tort and contract laws and antitrust violations tied to the use of Intergraph's
Clipper chip technology. "Intergraph will now focus on (business tort and
contract) claims and on our patent infringement claims, which are our number one
priority," Taylor said.
The company claims that Intel had coerced it into granting Intel a
royalty-free license to use the technology, which offered powerful graphics
processing features at the time. Intergraph, which generated $690 million in
revenues in 2000. Intel is the world's largest chipmaker, with more than $33
billion in revenues.
The executive said the company's software and services business is now
focused on solid vertical markets where it is profitable after exiting the
hardware business in prior years.
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.