Case Dismissed and MEC Ordered to Pay TI’s Legal Costs
DALLAS -- February 14, 2007 -- Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE: TXN) today said that the United States District Court in the Central District of California granted a summary judgment in favor of TI, dismissing a patent infringement case filed by Microprocessor Enhancement Corporation (MEC), a subsidiary of Acacia Research Corporation.
On the claims brought by MEC, the court ruled that TI did not infringe any claim and that each claim of the MEC patent is invalid. MEC was seeking more than $94 million and a permanent injunction against TI's C6000™ platform of digital signal processors. The court further ordered MEC to pay TI’s costs associated with the suit.
“TI respects the intellectual property of third parties, but we will not hesitate to fight meritless patent infringement lawsuits to the fullest extent. We’re gratified the court agreed that MEC’s claims were entirely unwarranted,†said Senior Vice President and General Counsel Joseph F. Hubach.
MEC filed suit against TI in April 2005 alleging patent infringement involving the manufacture and sale of microprocessors, specifically its C6000 DSP product line. TI filed a motion for summary judgment of noninfringement and motion for summary judgment of invalidity in July 2006. In a ruling issued on February 9, 2007, the court granted TI’s motions and ordered the plaintiffs to pay TI’s costs associated with the suit.
About Texas Instruments:
Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies to meet our customers’ real world signal processing requirements. In addition to Semiconductor, the company includes the Education Technology business. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries.
Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at www.ti.com.