Feeling left out
The standard reaction to getting a legal letter these days seems to be to make it public. NVIDIA did so a month ago and now it's AMD's turn...again.
AMD submitted a filing to the SEC yesterday saying Intel had given it 60 days to correct an alleged breach of the cross license agreement between the companies or face the consequences. The allegation centers around the spin-off of AMD's manufacturing operations into a new company: GLOBALFOUNDRIES.
Having thoroughly represented AMD's perspective on all this we thought it only fair to give Intel a go, so we contacted Intel's spokesman on such matters, Chuck Mulloy. Mulloy started by summarising the issue from an Intel perspective and then went on to answer our questions.
Chuck Mulloy: The fundamental issue here in our view is that AMD has attempted to transfer Intel's intellectual property to a third party without involving Intel in that activity. The cross license agreement (the current version was signed in 2001) represent a significant asset and Intel has an obligation to its stockholders to protect that asset and get a fair return for it.
HEXUS.channel: What are the precise details of the material breach of the cross license Intel is alleging AMD has committed?
CM: We believe that GlobalFoundries [sic] is NOT a subsidiary under terms of the 2001 cross license agreement and is therefore not licensed. The attempt to transfer Intel's patent rights to the GlobalFoundries is a breach of the agreement.
