Patent Law

Life Support

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

Transmeta, a creative Silicon Valley chip designer, had a promising future when it started in 1995. It developed CPUs with low power consumption, perfect for laptops. Intel infringed its patents, thus undercutting Transmeta's marketing edge.

Intel settled last year for $250 million: $150 up front, with $100 million over five years.

Transmeta was beaten by Intel and AMD in the marketplace. It made a go as patent licensor, but is now up for sale.

To grease its own wheels, Transmeta cut a new deal with Intel: $91.5 million for the remaining settlement money now. Transmeta CFO Sujan Jain:  "We have now made it easy for a buyer to enter into a transaction. They no longer have to come up with cash to finance a transaction."

Source: WSJ

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on September 28, 2008 (boomark / email).