Letter to the editor: Patents a sore spot (Tuan Pham, EM Microelectronic Marin)

(08/13/2007 10:17 AM EDT) -- EE Times
 
I received a plethora of e-mails regarding my recent article, entitled "Semi IP sector is a lost cause"

Then, I asked for the IP vendors themselves -- or others -- to respond to a set of questions. Here's one letter to the editor:

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Editor,

Just reading your article brings me to a subject that annoys almost small semiconductor firms: Nowaday, the equipment vendors sell their tools without transferring to the buyer the right to use the process.

Normally a tool is "qualified" using a "standard process" from the supplier with minor modification. But there is a problem that arises since a lot of processes, chemistries have been patented and claims in the patents are often overlapped each other. This is extremely difficult to know exactly what is free of infringement of not.

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