Xilinx patent suit against Altera set for trial

Xilinx patent suit against Altera set for trial
By Crista Souza, EBN
October 17, 2000 (9:24 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20001017S0007

Xilinx Inc.'s 1993 patent infringement suit against rival Altera Corp. is moving to trial.

A jury has been impaneled, and arguments are set to begin on Wednesday, according to Nathan Sarkisian, chief financial officer of Altera Corp.

The seven-year-old litigation set off a volley of return-fire complaints as the two leading programmable-logic chip suppliers fought for dominance of what is now a $4 billion market. Together, Xilinx and Altera, both of San Jose, are thought to hold most of the key recipes for creating an SRAM-based programmable logic architecture.

Altera's counter suit is expected to reach a "milestone" in December, Sarkisian said, though he declined to be more specific.