ARM gains access to picoTurbo's RISC customers in suit settlement

ARM gains access to picoTurbo's RISC customers in suit settlement
By Semiconductor Business News
December 14, 2001 (9:03 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20011214S0015

CAMBRIDGE, England -- ARM Ltd. here and U.S.-based picoTurbo Inc. today announced a settlement to a legal battle over patents related to embedded processor cores and marketing rights to ARM's RISC technology. It appears ARM won from the terms of the settlement.

Under that agreement, privately-held picoTurbo of Milpitas, Calif., acknowledges ARM's patents and its rights to enforce them, while ending its own sales and marketing activities for the disputed products and intellectual property. The agreement allows picoTurbo's current customers to complete existing chip designs and manufacture their products based on the technology with support from the Silicon Valley company.

However, both companies said they will work with picoTurbo customers to "affect a safe and smooth migration to the ARM [RISC] roadmap for future designs."

In return, ARM said it has agreed to drop all claims against picoTurbo. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.

Last year, ARM expanded its patent infringement suit against picoTurbo, claiming that the startup's synthesizable RISC cores were violating seven patents. Cambridge-based ARM also accused picoTurbo of unfair competition and false advertising in the promotion of its pT120, pT100, and pT110 processor cores (see June 23, 2000, story). The lawsuit was expected to go to trial in 2002 in a U.S. district court in Oakland, Calif.