Intel Corp insists that the timing is pure coincidence, but the company has launched a lawsuit against Chips & Technologies Inc, San Jose, alleging that the company’s clones of the 80386 and 80387 infringed its patents – and is seeking a temporary restraining order to bar the company from licensing its technology to a third party only days after the story broke that Texas Instruments Inc is considering fabricating the parts under licence from Chips & Technologies. The company says that it has been in talks with Intel to settle the complaints without resort to litigation: Chips & Technologies is satisfied that its parts do not infringe any of Intel’s patents or copyrights. It also claims Intel is infringing some of its own patents, though it has not filed a suit.
