Additional Details on the Legal Dispute Between Intel and VIA In Germany

by Anton Shilov
11/27/2002 | 08:25 PM

Many of our readers probably remember that in late October the Dusseldorf District Court decided to prohibit the importation or sale of VIA chipsets that work with Intel Pentium 4 processors to Germany (see this news-story). That time our VIA contacts told me to wait their official response on the matter, though, they never did it. Because of the great interest a lot of people express about the Pentium 4 processor bus concerning legal disputes between Intel and VIA, I decided to share some unofficial facts with you.

• VIA Technologies appealed against court’s decision because there were no representatives from the company on the hearing.
• The court let VIA to sell their mainboards based on the chipsets that possibly infringe Intel’s patents until the situation is clear. It does not help VIA to sell a lot of its core-logic, so to speak.
• There will be another hearing on the matter in future where both plaintiff and defendant will take part. The date is not yet set.