Intel stung by $300m patent settlement

After four long years in court, software firm Intergraph has won $300m in compensation from Intel in a patent infringement court case.

Intergraph charged Intel with patent infringement in 1997, at which time it was producing chips for the PC market. Intergraph claimed Intel had used its technology without permission in its Pentium processor range.

Intergraph won $300m from Intel after the court enforced a mediation process to settle the long running dispute, although Intel maintained it was not in the wrong.

The deal included a clause to force Intel to purchase several Intergraph chip patents that were not affected by the case.

Intel could have to pay a further $250m pending the result of another court case looking into a second chip patent dispute over Intergraph's technology being used in Intel's Itanium processor.

The second suit will go to trial in the US on 1 July this year.