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SMK1

11/3/2011 12:13 PM EDT

It sounds like Sonics did invest in their R&D and then protected that R&D with ...

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yalanand

11/3/2011 1:44 AM EDT

True the company has every right to defend its invention but its unfortunate ...

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Sonics sues Arteris for infringing patents

Rick Merritt

11/2/2011 7:00 AM EDT

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Network-on-chip IP and tool vendor Sonics Inc. is suing rival Arteris Inc., claiming seven of its products infringe seven Sonics patents. Sonics is demanding Arteris stop selling the infringing products and pay Sonics fees yet to be determined based on the volume of products Arteris has sold to date.

Sonics chief executive Grant Pierce claims he made multiple attempts to negotiate a licensing deal with Arteris starting in 2009. "The patents we are asserting here are ones we filed before Arteries was founded," he said.

The seven Sonics patents cover areas including connectivity between IP cores, quality of service, security and the verification of configurable IP cores. They were issued between January 2001 and November 2007. Sonics has a total of 45 granted U.S. patents in its portfolio; it claims Arteris has six granted patents.

The Sonics suit was filed November 1 in the United States District Court, Northern District of California. The seven Sonics patents it names are:

  • 6,182,183
  • 6,816,814
  • 6,961,834
  • 7,191,273
  • 7,266,786
  • 7,299,155
  • 7,277,975

The allegedly infringing Arteris products include:

  • FlexNoc
  • FlexWay
  • FlexVerifer
  • FlexArtist
  • FlexExplorer
  • NoCcompiler
  • NoCverifier

A copy of the Sonics complaint is available online. At press time, Arteris had not yet received notice of the suit and chose not to comment.

The suit comes as Sonics gears up to start shipping a new product, SGN, a GHz-class network-on-chip offering that competes with products from Arteris.





goafrit

11/2/2011 7:02 AM EDT

Interesting. We are living in the era of LAWYERS. Engineering is dying because of these lay school graduates.

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selinz

11/2/2011 8:05 PM EDT

If a company invented something, they have a right to defend it.

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yalanand

11/3/2011 1:44 AM EDT

True the company has every right to defend its invention but its unfortunate that companies spend a lot of amount protecting their IP rather than invest it in R&D.

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SMK1

11/3/2011 12:13 PM EDT

It sounds like Sonics did invest in their R&D and then protected that R&D with IP. Sonics has made "multiple attempts to negotiate a licensing deal with Arteris starting in 2009" because Arteris is allegedly building off the R&D developed by Sonics prior to Arteris being founded. If a company invents something, then they have the right to defend it.

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