From San Diego Business Journal today ...
Posted date: 6/9/2005
Patent Litigation Over for Patriot Scientific
Patriot Scientific, a Rancho Bernardo high-tech firm that has been litigating ownership rights of a series of patents on microprocessors for the past three years, said it has settled a dispute with The TPL Group, representing the defendants who also claimed ownership of the patents.
Judge Jeremy Fogel in U.S. District Court in San Jose approved the stipulated settlement June 9, ending the litigation.
“This is the unification of divergent interests into what is now a powerful marketing opportunity,” said David Pohl, a director for Patriot Scientific.
Both Patriot Scientific and TPL claimed ownership to the patents through agreements struck in the past with the inventors of the technology. Patriot acquired the rights for part of the patents through its purchase of rights once owned by one of two inventors, while TPL obtained the rights of the other co-inventor, Pohl said.
Both parties realized the litigation process could take another five to seven years to complete, while the value of the patent rights would decline, and agreed to join forces.
Patriot, which has only four employees, and TPL say at least three of 10 patents are elemental to virtually every microprocessor design.
Under the terms of the agreement, both parties will receive certain payments in addition to sharing in future revenues generated by a licensing program implemented by TPL, said Pohl.
Earlier this year, Patriot licensed its technology to AMD, one of the world’s largest chip manufacturers.
Pohl was unable to say how much the new agreement would generate in revenues for Patriot.
In 2004, for the fiscal year ended May 31, Patriot reported a net loss of $4.1 million on revenues of $76,417, compared to a net loss of $3.8 million on revenues of $123,903 for the prior fiscal year.
– Mike Allen
