Intel hit with energy-efficiency patent suit

Transmeta, the chip designer that once tried to take on Intel in the laptop market, is suing Intel for patent infringement.

It alleges Intel violated 10 of its patents and that the intellectual property behind these patents is embodied in $100bn worth of chips sold by Intel. The claim extends back to the P6 generation of chips, which includes the Pentium Pro and Pentium II, and forward to the latest Core 2 Duo processors.

The case was filed on Wednesday in a US District Court for the District of Delaware.

The patents relate to power efficiency. Transmeta alleges Intel infringed on one of its patents when it inserted a technology called "enhanced SpeedStep" into its models, said John Horsely, Transmeta's general counsel. Enhanced SpeedStep essentially slows down a chip when not in use to cut power consumption.

Other patents relate to areas such as instruction scheduling and other micro-architecture issues. Transmeta's patents were filed over a 10-year period, starting in 1991 (which predates the Pentium Pro) and going through 2000. Horsely said the suit is not barred by the statute of limitations.

Transmeta was the first company to emphasise that power consumption was going to be a major headache for chip and computer makers. It claimed its Crusoe processors would be able to run the same software as Intel chips but gobble up less electricity, thus leading to longer battery life.

Although the company landed early deals with Fujitsu and Sony when Crusoe arrived in 2000, it did not live up to its goals. Crusoe's performance was middling, and Transmeta had several problems getting new versions out the door. Deals with Toshiba and others evaporated.

The chipmaker then went through several rounds of layoffs and changed its CEO three times before refashioning itself into an intellectual property company last year.

Transmeta has regularly lost millions of dollars per year. Between January 1998 and June 2005, it posted accumulated losses of $635m on revenue of $134m.

Although the chips never sold well, Transmeta's ideas did spark Intel to look more closely at power consumption. Getting inspiration and patent infringement, however, are two separate things.

Intel declined to comment, stating it has not yet seen the complaint.

Horsely and Transmeta CEO Art Swift would not comment on whether the company would sue PC makers that incorporated Intel chips into their products. Horsely also declined to say whether Transmeta would sue AMD. That chipmaker has a licence for "some" Transmeta technology, Horsely said.

Michael Kanellos writes for CNET News.com