Palm, manufacturers, chipmakers, and carriers targeted in patent lawsuit 25
Tue, 23 Mar 2010 4:59 pm EDT 
As they say with patent lawsuits, you throw everything you’ve got at all the defendants you can find and see what sticks. Today we’ve got defunct chip maker MicroUnity (stopped making chips more than a decade ago) leveling a patent lawsuit against twenty-two companies [pdf] involved in the mobile tech industry. MicroUnity is targeting Acer, Apple, AT&T, Cellco, Exedea, Google, HTC, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sprint, and Texas Instruments in the suit. The allegation is that all of these companies (and some of their subsidiaries) are involved in the production, sale, and/or marketing of MicroUnity patent-infringing Qualcomm’s Snapdragon or Texas Instruments’ OMAP-3 and OMAP-4 processors.
In our case, the Palm Pre and Pre Plus use the TI OMAP 3430 processor and is sold and marketed by Sprint (as well as Verizon, Bell, O2, and Telcel, but they apparently don’t matter). We would say that there’s likely little to worry about as far as Palm and Sprint are concerned - Texas Instruments is the one infringing on patents here, Palm only bought the chips.
Even though MicroUnity stopped making chips more than ten years ago, they still have a hefty patent portfolio that they’ve leveraged in the past. In 2005 Intel settled a patent-infringement lawsuit brought by MicroUnity to the tune of $300 million. At the time, MicroUnity had a grand total of eight employees. We won’t call them patent trolls, but we will at least point out that MicroUnity also has pending lawsuits against a number of other tech companies, including Intel (again), AMD, Sony, and Dell.
[via: EETimes]
Thanks to Lemstil for the tip!
25 Comments
......ok
Scumbags
Greedy bastards!
Sounds like people are just money hungry and are all out to get something...then again on some fronts it falls on the people using tha patents...Apple for example uses LOTS of Palms patents in fact they would not do as well as they have today if they didnt.
Maybe Palm should get Apple....think they could win big if they can hold out on the cash part. Palm would be richER and Apple would be seen as the scum they really are...oops did I say that out loud.
I'm sure palm is infringing on some of Apple's patents too. I'm wouldn't be surprised if they have a licensing deal that we don't know about.
anyone wanna take careof those 8 guys?
Walks like a patent troll, quacks like a patent troll, sure looks like a patent troll.
PS...that judge chick scares the beejeezus out of me.
"Judge chick"?! Don't you dare refer to the pillar of rationality and moral compass in such a blase way!
that's pretty genius. Making money even though they haven't made a product in a decade. Brilliant
Its silly and i hope they get it up the ass.
Sounds like MicroUnity has stopped innovating and for years has been surviving solely by milking other tech companies through lawsuits and extortion...
I hope they get their asses handed to them...
ha. Seems like you've all disregarded the facts. They had patents for reasons like this. Their idea, their design. I think most of you in their position would be pursuing the same course of action, as I would. Hopefully palm stays safe with this but who knows it seems like patent issues with these phones are everywhere.
It is bogus to see a company that is using a product (Snapdragon or OMAP chip) that may infringe upon a patent. Palm has no obligation to ensure TI holds patents or has obtained rights to all technology in the OMAP chip.
Most of these comments are ridiculous. If you invent something, and you patent it... it's YOURS. That's the whole point to patents. Either you're protected against others using what you designed/created or you get paid for others to use it. It's plain and simple...those of you calling BS to to a company wanting to get paid for something they own must be today's generation of teen... know it all, want it now and at the same time have no idea WTF is going on or why.
this is a really great point
Did you READ that list of companies they are targeting? Almost all of those companies shouldn't even be mentioned in that lawsuit as they have no responsibility for the infringement of patents for the chips they are using. MicroUnity may very well have a case against Qualcomm and TI but frivolously targeting all of these other companies screams of patent trolling. Patents are abused so often today and this case smells so much like it that I'm more inclined to call them out for patent trolling than give them the benefit of the doubt.
This kind of gluttonous litigation is despicable and a waste of tax payer dollars.
There's a misconception in the article: Not all royalty/patent fees are paid by the manufacturer (i.e. Texas Instrument).
That's one of the reasons that Nokia attacked Apple for GSM/3G patents (not software patents) despite GSM/3G being taken care of by some third party chip: In the mobile phone market (at least), some patent fees are passed along to the end manufacturer (Apple) and are to be paid according to total phones sold.
So maybe Palm is not so off the hook... =/
@Fabrian I agree after reading like the first 5 comments I laughed...if I was in the same position, especially with as many employees I'd do the same. First of all this is the reason for patents...to protect intellectual property. Second of all because they are so small they should take advantage of the judicial system. I bet some of these companies took a look at who held the patents, saw how small they were and said why bother asking, one of two things will happen they won't put up a fight or they will and if so we definitely have the funds to fight back. If you invented something years ago that is still relevant today but let say you moved on and still hold the patents, would you be so generous to let someone else make a fortune off your idea just because your no longer "in the game"?? Don't think so...all that aside....hide palm hide...we need you to stay afloat long enough to rebound with our new WebOS device come this summer!!
Even if the company is getting what they deserve, its possible that they are stretching their patent thin enough where it barely touches what these other chips do.
They could be right, and they could be wrong. I'm hoping they are wrong, because I've been seeing a lot of lawsuits about patent infringements lately, and I'm getting tired of it. What a way to put a road block on inventions.
If they are actually wrong, hopefully all these lawyers will tag team and trump this patent to the ground.
8 people divided by $300 million dollars...hmmm. Very rich employees. They should rightfully protect what's theirs, as all of you naysayers would be doing the same if you were in a similar position.
I say sue away! Once I get my patent for the method of wiping an ass with toilet paper I'm suing the whole damn population of Earth for patent infringement.
Is there no part of the law that says if a company has stopped using their patents after a certain period then they are defaulted in order to promote innovation and progress (which said company clearly isn't contributing to any longer)?
Patent law and copyright law are necessary, but they need serious overhaul. Do you think that it is with this potential lawsuit on the cards that Apple has developed its own chip?
So MicroUnity the SCO of mobile chip industry?
This is total crap i hope this company gets there ass handed to them If i was Palm sprint or any other of the corps i would counter sue them turds to oblivion worthless fraks