DealerMart - Intel fires next salvo in battle with Via.

Intel has turned up the heat on core-logic rival Via Technologies in their ongoing patent-infringement dispute by filing an unfair trade practices complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC).

Intel has turned up the heat on core-logic rival Via Technologies in their ongoing patent-infringement dispute by filing an unfair trade practices complaint with the US International Trade Commission (ITC).

Intel filed the complaint on 7 January to put pressure on Taiwan-based Via and four other companies to settle a year-long dispute involving licensed technologies, an Intel representative said.

Both the vendors had concluded a cross-licensing agreement in November 1998.

But in Intel's complaint before the ITC, it alleged that Via made "improper" use of the vendor's P6 front-side bus used in many of Via's current chipsets.

Intel has lawsuits pending against Via regarding alleged P6 front-side bus patent infringement in the US, the UK and in Singapore.

The earliest case is in the UK, but those proceedings will not begin until October, and without a settlement, industry observers said the cases could drag on for several years.

Via is increasing its share of the chipset market, due in part to beating Intel to market with core logic that supports 133MHz SDRam.

Intel's core-logic business faltered because its gambit to establish Direct Rambus memories so far has proved unsuccessful, and it is not expected to field core logic for the more popular 133MHz SDRam until the next quarter.

Observers believe that the lack of headway over Direct Rambus memories has prompted Intel to file the unfair trade practices complaint with the ITC.

Lawyers for Intel cited section 337 of the US Tariff Act (1930) to support their allegations of unfair trade practices by Via. In its complaint, the manufacturer asked the commission to investigate a "certain integrated circuit chipset and the products containing the same".

Intel is asking the ITC to block Via Technologies' exports of what the vendor claimed are unlicensed products and to stop infringement of its licences, the Intel representative said.