Toronto Firm Snares Intel in Patent Suit

A Toronto semiconductor technology company is suing Intel for allegedly infringing on its patent, according to court documents filed Thursday.

All Computers Inc. is accusing Intel of using its technology without a license. The patent titled "Apparatus and Methods for Enhancing the Performance of Personal Computers" describes the basic circuitry needed for high-speed microprocessors like the ones in Intel's Pentium family.

"Intel has certainly had an impact as the largest computer microprocessor supplier in the world, but it is not the only company to make major contributions to the constantly evolving technology industry," Edward O'Connor, an attorney representing All Computers, said in a statement.

Intel General Council Chuck Mulloy told internetnews.com that the company's legal team had not yet seen the filing and offered no comment on the suit.

O'Connor said All Computers had previously contacted Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel and offered to license the patent, but was turned down. All Computers' said it has held the patent since 1996.

Intel has been under attack from various companies accusing the No. 1 chipmaker of various patent infringements.

Patriot Scientific added Intel to its legal fight against 150 PC-related companies claiming Intel's Pentium microprocessor contains its patented on-chip clocking technology.

Likewise, Intel recently agreed to pay $225 million to Intergraph as part of its longstanding argument that the Itanium processor contains Intergraph's Parallel Instruction Computing (PIC) patents.

While All Computers is not widely known, it has gained notoriety because PC inventor Mers Kutt helped found the company. Kutt is the inventor of the first PC, the MCM/70, which celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. He is also the founder of the "key edit," a data preparation system, which succeeded the IBM punch card in 1968.

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